UNITED KINGDOM
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
I. National Participation in OGP
II. Action Plan Development
III. Action Plan Implementation
IV. Analysis of Action Plan Contents
1: National Information Infrastructure
2: NHS England Website and Network
3: Revised Local Authorities Data Transparency Code
4: Transparent Social Investment Market
5: Manage and Capture Digital Records
6: Cross-Government Anti-Corruption Plan
7: Company Beneficial Ownership Information
8: Access to Police Records
9: Transparency in Construction
10: Legislative Openness
11: Whistleblowing
12: Open Contracting
13: Open Contracting Scotland
14: International Aid Transparency
15: Health Care Data
16: Open Policy Making
17: Sciencewise
18: Publication of Draft Legislation
19: OpenDataCommunities Programme
20: PSI Re-Use Directive
21: Extractive Transparency
V. Process: Self-Assessment
VI. Country Context
VII. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
VIII. Methodology and Sources
IX. Eligibility Requirements
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Executive Summary
Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2013–15
The UK government wrote an ambitious action plan that involved civil society organisations closely in the
process. The action plan contains a number of potentially transformative commitments, including a series of
high profile international commitments on beneficial ownership, extractives, and international aid. Across the
three OGP values, the UK action plan heavily emphasized access to information; the future action plan would
benefit from focusing on vital issues such as surveillance and lobbying.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a voluntary international initiative that aims to secure
commitments from governments to their citizenry to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight
corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. The Independent Reporting
Mechanism (IRM) carries out a review at the mid and end point of the National Action Plan (NAP) for
each OGP participating country.
The United Kingdom was one of the eight founding members of the OGP in September 2011.
The Cabinet Office is responsible for coordinating the UK’s OGP commitments across a wide number
of departments and bodies. The implementation of each commitment was the responsibility of a
particular lead department, oftentimes supported by a network of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)
with an interest in the area. The United Kingdom is a centralized system with reasonably strong
control over local government. However, in the past two decades new sub-national “devolved”
governments have developed distinct policy agendas and, as part of this, have begun to develop their
own open government agendas.
OGP process
Countries participating in the OGP follow a process for consultation during development of their OGP
action plan and during implementation.
Overall, the United Kingdom developed the OGP plan in a participatory way. Advanced notice of 83
days was provided to key stakeholders and to the general public to comment on the draft action plan.
The IRM researcher was unable to get access to a summary of public comments.
The government worked with the UK OGP Civil Society Network to draft and agree to commitments
for the plan, through a series of meetings and conversations, albeit with different degrees of
interaction. During the process, CSOs expressed concern that the plan lacked ambition and
recommended that steps be taken to open up companies, allow greater public scrutiny of public
money, and open up the lobbying process. Overall, CSOs were satisfied with the process of
consultation
The government provided a mid-term self-assessment in due time. It was also supported by three
individual self-assessment reports for each commitment.
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At a glance
Member since:
2011
Number of commitments: 21
Number of milestones:
53
Commitment implementation
As part of OGP, countries are required to make commitments in a
two-year action plan. The UK action plan is divided into five
thematic clusters that include open data, government integrity,
fiscal transparency, empowering citizens, and natural resource
transparency. The five themes contain 21 commitments
comprising several milestones. The following table summarises
each commitment, its level of completion, its ambition and
whether it falls within UK’s planned schedule, and the key next
steps for the commitment in future OGP action plans. The UK’s
plan covered a wide variety of sectors and had a number of
ambitious commitments, as evidenced below. The UK completed
three of its 21 commitments.
Level of Completion
Completed:3 of 21
Substantial: 13 of 21
Limited: 4 of 21
Not started:0 of 21
Withdrawn: 1 of 21
Timing
On schedule:18 of 21
The UK action plan contained four starred commitments
[commitments 6, 7, 14, and 21). These commitments are
measurable, clearly relevant to OGP values as written, of
transformative potential impact, and substantially or completely
implemented. Note that the IRM updated the star criteria in early
2015 in order to raise the bar for model OGP commitments. In
addition to the criteria listed above, the old criteria included
commitments that have moderate potential impact. Under the old
criteria, the UK would have received five additional stars
(commitments 1, 3, 5, 10, and 15). See
(http://www.opengovpartnership.org/node/5919) for more
information.
Commitment emphasis:
Access to information:19 of 21
Civic participation:12 of 21
Accountability:8 of 21
Tech & innovation for
transparency & accountability:
7 of 21
Number of commitments that were:
Clearly relevant to an
OGP value: 21 of 21
Transformative with potential
impact: 4 of 21
Substantial or complete in
implementation: 16 of 21
Table 1: Assessment of Progress by Commitment
All three ():
COMMITMENT SHORT NAME
POTENTIAL
IMPACT
N
O
N
E
 COMMITMENT IS CLEARLY
RELEVANT TO OGP VALUES AS
WRITTEN, HAS TRANSFORMATIVE
POTENTIAL IMPACT, AND IS
SUBSTANTIALLY OR COMPLETELY
IMPLEMENTED.
M
I
N
O
R
M
O
D
E
R
A
T
E
LEVEL OF
COMPLETION
T
R
A
N
S
F
O
R
M
A
T
I
N
O
T
S
T
A
R
T
E
D
L
I
M
I
T
E
D
S
U
B
S
T
A
N
T
I
A
L
C
O
M
P
L
E
T
E
TIMING
4 of 21
NEXT STEPS
INCLUDE THIS
COMMITMENT,
IN PART OR IN
TOTAL, IN THE
NEXT PLAN?
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V
E
Theme 1: Open Data
1. National Information
Infrastructure
On schedule
Yes
1.1 Datasets release dates
On schedule
Yes
1.2. Disclose provenance arrangements
for dataset releases
On schedule
Yes
1.3. Internal procedures to identify
unpublished sets
On schedule
Yes
Behind
schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
Behind
schedule
Yes
Behind
schedule
Yes
1.4. Regularly reconsider the use cases
1.5. Highlight statutory vs. public task
releases
2. NHS England Website and
Network
2.1. Website established
Withdrawn
Withdrawn
2.2. Virtual network participation
Withdrawn
Behind
schedule
Yes
2.3. Accreditation system established
Withdrawn
Behind
schedule
Yes
3. Revised Local Authorities Data
Transparency Code
On schedule
No
3.1. Publish government response to
revising the code
On schedule
No
3.2. Revised Local Authorities Data
Transparency Code
On schedule
No
3.3. Legal requirement for local
authorities to publish data
On schedule
No
3.4. Disseminate guidance and good
practice
On schedule
No
3.5. Light touch approach
On schedule
No
4. Transparent Social Investment
On schedule
No
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Market
4.1. Reporting on international
commitments
On schedule
No
4.2. Annual update on domestic
commitments
On schedule
No
5. Management and Capture of
Digital Records
On schedule
Yes
5.1. Digital Records Infrastructure
(DRI)
Behind
schedule
Yes
5.2. Digital records transfer process
On schedule
Yes
5.3. 20-year rule by 2030
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
No
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
8.2. Working group reports
Behind
schedule
Yes
9. Transparency in Construction
Behind
schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
Behind
schedule
Yes
On schedule
No
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
Theme 2: Government Integrity
6. Cross Government AntiCorruption Plan
7. Company Beneficial Ownership
Information
8. Access to Police Records
8.1. Working group established
9.1. CoST disclosure UK
9.2. CoST disclosure elsewhere
10. Legislative Openness
11. Whistleblowing
Theme 3: Fiscal Transparency
12. Open Contracting
12.1. Open Contracting Principles
12.2. Improvements to contracts finder
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12.3. Contractual openness via FOI
clause
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
14.1. All ODA data published
On schedule
Yes
14.2. Implement the Busan Common
Standard
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
Behind
schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
15.5. Digital GP services
On schedule
Yes
16. Open Policy Making
Behind
schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
No
19. OpenDataCommunities
Programme
On schedule
No
19.1. Robust, reliable, and trusted
source of DCLG data
On schedule
No
13. Open Contracting Scotland
14. International Aid Transparency
14.3. Launch development tracker
14.4. Launch IATA budget identifier
14.5. IATA for all partners
Theme 4: Empowering Citizens
15. Health Care Data
15.1. Clinical data
15.2. GP information
15.3. Social care data
15.4. Linked GP-hospital data
17. Sciencewise
18. Publication of Draft Legislation
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19.2. Strong use by stakeholders
On schedule
No
Ahead of
schedule
No
On schedule
No
On schedule
No
On schedule
Yes
On schedule
Yes
21.1. EITI multi-stakeholder group and
draft accounting directive
On schedule
Yes
21.2. UK EITI candidacy and
accountancy directive transposition
On schedule
Yes
21.3. Publish EITI report and EU
directives transposing legislation comes
into force
On schedule
Yes
21.4. Data publication begins under EU
directives
On schedule
Yes
19.3. Strong partnerships
19.4. Alignment of data and new tools
19.5. Linked data to other tools
20. PSI Re-Use Directive
Theme 5: Natural Resource Transparency
21. Extractive Transparency
Table 2: Summary of Progress by Commitment
NAME OF
COMMITMENT
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
1. National Information
Infrastructure (NII)
The NII seeks to make publicly accessible those government’s datasets that have the most significant
economic and social impact. Government departments and arm’s length bodies identified datasets and are
moving forward with publication. However, CSO bodies were concerned that the NII was somewhat
inward facing and neglected the more public-facing transparency and accountability aspects of the
process. In response, the government sought the views from a wide range of users through a series of
discovery workshops leading to a shift in the commitment’s approach that offers a better means of
creating a sustainable and robust framework. The new chief data officer will need to play a stronger role in
future co-ordination.
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Moderate
Completion:
Substantial
2. NHS England Website
and Network
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
● Potential impact:
Moderate
● Completion:
Withdrawn
3. Revised Local
The commitment aimed at building an “accreditation scheme” by creating a website that allows the public
and others to share experiences of the National Health Service (NHS) and offer ideas as to assessment.
This commitment was officially withdrawn due to administrative and legal changes within the NHS and
concerns over privacy issues. The IRM researcher recommends that there should be renewed work on
experiments and innovations, such as the networks and applications that can allow patients to assess
performance of health services, with recognition of the importance of privacy.
This commitment aimed to issue revisions to the Local Authorities Data Transparency Code to place
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Authorities Data
Transparency Code
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
● Potential impact:
Moderate
● Completion:
Complete
4. Transparent Social
Investment Market
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
● Potential impact:
Minor
● Completion:
Complete
5. Manage and Capture
Digital Records
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
● Potential impact:
Moderate
● Completion:
Substantial
6. Cross-Government AntiCorruption Plan
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Transformative
Completion:
Complete
7. Company Beneficial
Ownership Information
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Transformative
Completion:
Substantial
8. Access to Police Records
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Moderate
Completion:
Limited
more power into citizens’ hands and make it easier for local people to contribute to the decision-making
process. The code was subject to extensive consultation and was developed through engagement with a
number of stakeholders and strong ministerial and political interest. Overall, local authorities have
published key information and data. Tracking evidence on the compliance and level of resources available
within local authorities, as well as the barriers and opportunities to data use—including issues around how
data use can be linked to tools for public participation—is an important step moving forward.
The UK government seeks to be the most transparent social investment market in line with the Open
Data Charter principles. The commitment created a number of informational innovations, including new
publishing of open data from 65 investments, creating a series of online visualizations via data.gov.uk and
a directory of social enterprise. The inaugural Social Investment Awards in November 2014 was part of a
process of increasing public awareness and help for those involved in this area. Although it is not yet clear
if these measures have met the high transparency and participative goals set out in 2013, taken together,
these measures have increased the openness and awareness of social investment and have provided the
tools to encourage others to better understand it.
This commitment aims to provide access to records of the UK government delivered in ways that make
them more accessible and more usable than they have been before. For the most part, the government has
advanced significantly with record management and capture of digital records. Progress has been
challenging due to issues on digital sensitivity review, appraisal and selection of hybrid records, variety of
information formats, and management across government departments. Moving forward, The IRM
researcher would emphasize the importance of records preservation and management for the wider open
data agenda.
The commitment was intended to create a strategic anti-corruption plan to bring co-ordination and
coherence across government. The intent was not to set out new policies but to harmonize and coordinate existing plans and to introduce strategic direction. On December 18, 2014, the government
published the plan. A coalition of CSOs welcomed the plan as ground-breaking in its attempt at defining
and setting out strategic direction. However, the coalition highlighted several major blind spots in the
plan, including whether the strategy will be subject to a formal, transparent review process and the clarity
and depth of some areas, such as corruption in the private sector. Key concerns to consider moving
forward are establishment of lines of accountability, lack of political support, and public visibility of
progress. This commitment draws together pre-existing ideas and approaches but offers strategic
direction. The transformative potential impact and completion awards this commitment a starred status.
The commitment aims to create a publicly accessible central registry of company beneficial ownership
with information about who ultimately owns and controls UK companies. A publicly accessible register
was consulted on in 2013 and was taken forward in primary legislation as part of the Small Business,
Enterprise and Employment Bill in 2014-15. The intention is to have a publicly accessible register up and
running by April 2016, following secondary legislation. This commitment opens up companies both in the
United Kingdom and (potentially) internationally with numerous far-reaching effects and uses. However,
experts have argued that the new data need to be matched with other datasets to be truly effective. Given
the potential obstacles, the policy has so far met its ambitious aims and is one of the key achievements of
the National Action Plan and a starred commitment.
The commitment seeks to establish a high-level working group to draft a proposal and action plan that
will ensure greater transparency and accessibility of police records. The original working group comprised
many parties. However, participants found that the working group was too large, and it was subsequently
turned into a smaller sub-group of The National Archives (TNA) officials, archivists, and practitioners. A
number of difficulties emerged in implementing this commitment. Police records are currently not
designed around public access but around retention/destruction regulations via management of police
information rules. Because of a lack of consistent practice, the 42 police authorities store information in a
variety of different ways with a mix of paper, digital, or microfiche systems. The records also go back
many years, in some cases back to 1840, raising problems of digitization, storage, quality, and location, as
well as costs and resources. Given these difficulties, the working group has not yet made its report with
proposals. The IRM researcher believes there is a need for continued movement in this area and
discussion, given the issues for the police that it raises.
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9. Transparency in
Construction
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Minor
Completion:
Limited
10. Legislative Openness
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Moderate
Completion:
Substantial
11. Whistleblowing
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Moderate
Completion:
Limited
12. Open Contracting
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Minor
Completion:
Substantial
13. Open Contracting
Scotland
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Minor
Completion:
Substantial
14. International Aid
Transparency
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Transformative
The commitment has both a domestic and international angle, promoting principles of transparency and
accountability in all government-funded construction projects. The commitment is spread across
departments and bodies and in some places is reliant on the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative
(CoST) secretariat, rather than the government. Domestically, there appears to have been much less
progress than hoped, but alternative means are being used. Internationally, the work is long term and
reliant on other bodies and networks in an area where it can be difficult to gain policy traction.
Nevertheless, the development of inter-country partnerships appears to have moved forward.
Stakeholders identified that this commitment needs more co-ordination and involvement from CSOs
during the process of development and commitment implementation.
This initiative builds on TNA’s work since 2010 to update legislation. While publishing new legislation
was relatively simple, the key problem came with revising older legislation. This involves mapping out a
large number of linked amendments, finding out the extent of changes, such as commencement orders
(when legislation begins), identifying the point in time of revisions, and tracing the potential knock-on
effects on other legislation. The commitment is on track to meet its 2015 deadline and will be an
important step in record preservation and management and an example for new approaches of record
management in the digital age. Those involved thought that the commitment was useful in setting
resources and provided the improvement of legislation with a focal point. CSOs and stakeholders were
positive about the process, having good working relations with TNA.
The government is committed to ensuring a strong legislative framework to encourage workers to speak
up about wrongdoing, risk, or malpractice without fear of reprisal. The commitment comprises a series of
smaller milestones, including improving guidance for individuals, creation of a non-statutory code of
conduct, assessment of the current whistleblowing Employment Tribunal (ET1) referral system, the
introduction of a duty to report, updating of the prescribed persons list, and including relevant groups
currently excluded from the protections. The overall commitment is implemented in the midst of
continuing concerns about whistleblowing in the United Kingdom, and much of it remains in process.
Consensus is that the legislation is strong but needs improvement, and the culture and environment lag
behind the law. The IRM researcher recommends that the government focus on whistleblowing with a
cross-departmental or cross-sector champion to push this process forward.
The commitment aims to enhance the scope, breadth, and usability of published contractual data. The
commitment consists of a series of distinct programs across a number of government bodies. Part of the
commitment also relates to the UK government’s broader push for open contracting via its 2012 Open
Standards Principles and requiring outsourced companies to meet Freedom of Information Act (FOI)
requirements. At the time of writing this report, the procurement pipeline was up and running, the
Contracts Finder 2 was launched, and the government had published model services contracts. The
transparency clause in contracts relating to FOI remains the subject of discussion, but the current draft
asks for the right for a public authority to have information from the contractor that is “reasonably
relevant to performance of the contract.”
This commitment aims to work with civil society and wider stakeholder groups to improve transparency
in its procurement practices as part of the ongoing procurement reform.The Scottish government
publishes a certain amount of contracting information on contracts of a value of over £50,000 and is
running an open-contract portal called Public Contracts Scotland (PCS). In 2014, a wider reform
transformed the Scottish Procurement Reform Bill into the Scottish Procurement Act 2014. If the new
reforms were implemented fully, it would mean that Scottish government contracting procedures would
match those of the United Kingdom in levels of openness. The new Scottish Regulations will be in place
by mid-2016, and the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 will not be fully implemented until the
end of 2015. CSO’s and the UK government argue that future iterations of the National Action Plan need
to co-ordinate with all the devolved bodies and involve them in new plans and strategies. The UK
government’s mid-term assessment of March 2015 already recognized this.
The commitment aims to track UK assistance through the delivery chain in alignment with the
International Aid Transparency Initiative. Across the milestones, the Department for International
Development (DFID) has been widely praised for its commitment and energy. The drive behind the
process came not only from the DFID but also from the personal interest of the prime minister.
Although some milestones are complete, work remains to be done for others. Some challenges that
require attention moving forward are coordination across government and other partners, fuller data with
increased information about exemptions and effectiveness of aid, and improvements in dealing with
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●
Completion:
Substantial
15. Health Care Data
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Moderate
Completion:
Substantial
16. Open Policy Making
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Moderate
Completion:
Limited
17. Sciencewise
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Minor
Completion:
Substantial
18. Publication of Draft
Legislation
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Minor
Completion:
Substantial
19. Open Data
Communities Programme
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Minor
Completion:
Substantial
inconsistency amongst departments in placing data on the Development Tracker. This is a starred
commitment and appears to be one of the big success stories of the UK National Action Plan.
This commitment seeks greater accountability of NHS England and has eight separate objectives,
undertaken by NHS England voluntarily, rather than the Department of Health. There has been major
progress on numerous parts of the commitment. In terms of data, the 12 clinical datasets as well as GP
data, adult social care, and patient-centred outcome measurements have all been published. The Friends
and Family test, piloted in 2013, is now being rolled out, with the self-assessment claiming to have
received 5 million pieces of feedback. The digital GP service designed to allow patients to order
prescriptions and see their personal records online, aims to be complete in March 2015. NHS England is
also working to move forward what it calls Better Open Data with the Health and Social Care
Information Centre working with commitment 1 on the National Information Infrastructure. The
milestone relating to the establishment of the care.data programme has been delayed by privacy and
security concerns over care.data (see commitment 2) and concerns over conflation of data-sharing with
open data. Since then, there have been extensive consultations with patients and doctors, and a new
advisory group was created that includes strong critics of care.data. Thus, the programme continues on a
slower time frame.
The aim of this commitment is to make open policy making and the use of participation, digital
technology, and online consultation the norm. The commitment comprises a series of case studies in
opening up policy making that were intended to be practical projects to test the barriers and explore the
obstacles to opening up. Stakeholders and CSOs thought that this commitment fell short on the five
promised case studies with only three cases eventually developed. The IRM researcher thought this
commitment would offer models and a series of lessons for further movement in this area. Given the level
of interest, the IRM researcher also recommends the publication of a document for CSOs, the public, and
other departments on lessons learned from across these cases.
This commitment intends to extend the Sciencewise project from 2012, bringing together members of the
public, policy makers, scientists, and other experts to deliberate on national public policy issues involving
science and technology. The commitment entails the development of 20 live projects on which
Sciencewise is currently working. Although the commitment has achieved some notable successes, a
challenge for Sciencewise is finding a balance between resource and time constraints while looking into
the quality and credibility of public participation. Those working on the project thought that it could
benefit from tighter objectives, specific interim goals, and the involvement of more CSOs. The IRM
researcher signals the need for increased awareness and lesson learning, particularly as some areas of
government need to perceive the value of public involvement in difficult or complex issues.
is the commitment aims to enable and promote public engagement in proposed changes to laws. This has
been an ongoing process since 1997 and fits with growing attempts to increase the scrutiny of legislation.
Select committees now have the chance to look at legislation before the legislative process begins. This socalled pre-legislative scrutiny encourages an increase in public involvement in the legislative process. In
total, 65 pieces of draft legislation were published between 1997 and 2009-10, as compared to 31 between
2010 and 2014, although the rate in the 2014-15 session slowed down to four due to the reduced amount
of legislation close to the general election. Making the publication of legislation in draft the norm has
some beneficial effects, especially when dealing with a very technical bill; however, the usefulness of draft
bills varies. The government at times thinks that it is better to consult on the principle of the policy, rather
than the detail of the legislation. The IRM researcher suggests that it would be useful to take stock of the
impact and establish procedures as to how it has worked, what works best, and under what circumstances.
In April 2013, the UK government launched the OpenDataCommunities hub. The portal aims to provide
a selection of statistics on a variety of themes, including local government finance, housing and
homelessness, well-being, deprivation, and the department's business plan, as well as supporting
geographical data. Between 2013 and 2015, the hub developed well-being and deprivation maps, a
personalised spreadsheet generator, and a local authority dashboard. Recently published data include
council tax data from local authorities down to the (lowest) parish level and new map applications, all of
which are linked. This commitment has been a success, pushing forward a local openness agenda through
the publication of a variety of useful data, technical change, and innovative partnership work.
Nevertheless, some remaining challenges include issues of resources, skills within local authorities, the
ability to innovate, and convincing senior managers of the benefits of opening up and linking data. To
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move forward, this commitment needs more case studies of successful use and innovation and
examination of the skill sets and resources within local authorities and how they can be further developed.
20. PSI Re-Use Directive
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Minor
Completion:
Substantial
21. Extractive
Transparency
●
●
●
OGP value
relevance: Clear
Potential impact:
Transformative
Completion:
Substantial
Although it did not contain any specific milestones, the aim of the commitment was to transpose the
Public Service Information (PSI) Directive into law ahead of the EU deadline of 18 July 2015. The
engagement process around the regulations involved an inner group of Whitehall departments, including
the Treasury, Department of Health, Department of Business Innovation & Skills, the Cabinet Office,
and the Scottish government, but also extended to broader public-sector bodies. It included meetings with
stakeholders and bodies such as the Open Data User Group, the Open Data Institute, and the Campaign
for Freedom of Information every three to six months. This commitment refines and develops an existing
piece of legislation to widen its scope and alter the mechanisms of oversight and appeal. Once the law is
transposed, both those involved and the IRM researcher recommend a review of the new arrangements
and how far they have delivered their aims. Any analysis could also look into widening consultation and
awareness of PSI to encourage greater interaction and involvement in the future, perhaps using the new
cultural institutions and their access to the public.
The commitment grew out of more than 10 years of lobbying and activity around extractive industry
transparency. Progress has been relatively rapid and consistent with the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI) commitment. The required EITI multi-stakeholder group has met regularly
since 2013 with further meetings in 2014 until March 2015. The United Kingdom’s transposition and
implementation of the country-by-country reporting requirements of the 2013 EU Accounting and
Transparency Directives have also been prompt. In advance of the EU Accounting Directive becoming
UK law, the UK government consulted on Chapter 10 of the Accounting Directive in the spring of 2014.
The UK government then transposed chapter 10 of the directive by implementing the “Reports on
Payments to Governments Regulations 2014,” ahead of the rest of the directive in December 2014. The
UK government has plans in place to meet its commitment to apply open data principles to EITI reports
and the Reports on Payments to Governments Regulations. Stakeholders expressed concern over industry
guidance and details of the Financial Conduct Authority’s open data publications as the commitment
stands in March 2015. The impact of the commitment is transformative in opening up extractives for the
first time in the United Kingdom and, more importantly, across the developing world where resource
transparency is a vital issue. The commitment also is likely to have an important influence as a signal to
other countries to push the agenda forward. Given its transformative potential impact and substantial
completion, this is a starred commitment.
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Recommendations
The UK’s National Action Plan contains some ambitious commitments, following suit with Prime
Minister David Cameron’s pledge to make the UK government “the most open and transparent in the
world.” Through its co-chairmanship of the OGP and the prime minister’s co-chairmanship of the UN
High Level Panel of Eminent Persons, the UK has led an international agenda with transparency at its
core. Transparency was also one of the UK’s three priorities during the UK presidency of the G8, and
in June 2013, the G8 governments agreed to an open data charter to promote transparency,
innovation, and accountability. While much progress has been made in implementing the
commitments, some areas need strengthening and reinforcing. Based on the findings in the progress
report, the IRM researcher made the following five ‘specific, measurable, accountable, relevant, and
time-bound (SMART) recommendations for improving the OGP process in the UK.
TOP FIVE SMART RECOMMENDATIONS
1.
Have deeper engagement between the government and CSOs throughout the process with
frequent meetings and keeping of personnel changes to a minimum (where possible). This
also needs to be sustained throughout the process of implementation.
2.
Promote wider engagement with a more varied group of CSOs. Although the nature of some
proposals are by their nature technical and niche, an overall strategic vision may allow for a
greater appeal to more organisations.
Promote wider engagement with numerous governmental bodies across the UK, particularly
the devolved assemblies and local governments who should be co-authors of the next report.
Focus on key gaps within the second National Action Plan, particularly on how innovations
can link to public participation and accountability.
3.
4.
5.
Focus on some vital emerging issues, particularly government surveillance and lobbying.
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Ben Worthy is an academic based at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has carried
out a wide range of research on areas that include government transparency, open data,
political leadership, British politics, digital democracy, and public policy and policy making.
Besides academic articles, Worthy has written a number of reports and presented evidence to
the Justice and Public Administration Select Committees.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) aims to secure concrete commitments from
governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new
technologies to strengthen governance. OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism assesses
development and implementation of national action plans to foster dialogue among
stakeholders and improve accountability.
I. National Participation in OGP
History of OGP participation
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a voluntary, multi-stakeholder international
initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to their citizenry to
promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to
strengthen governance. OGP provides an international forum for dialogue and sharing
amongst governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector, all of which
contribute to a common pursuit of open government.
The United Kingdom was one of the eight founding members of the OGP in September 2011.
In order to participate in OGP, governments must exhibit a demonstrated commitment to
open government by meeting a set of (minimum) performance criteria on key dimensions of
open government that are particularly consequential for increasing government
responsiveness, strengthening citizen engagement, and fighting corruption. Objective, third
party indicators are used to determine the extent of country progress on each of the
dimensions. See Section IX: Eligibility Requirements, for more details.
All OGP participating governments develop OGP country action plans that elaborate
concrete commitments over an initial two-year period. Action Plans should set out
governments’ OGP commitments, which move government practice beyond its current
baseline. These commitments may build on existing efforts, identify new steps to complete
on-going reforms, or initiate action in an entirely new area.
The United Kingdom developed its first National Action Plan (NAP) between July and
September 2011. The plan covered the period September 2011 until December 2012,
although the effective period of implementation of the first Action Plan was 1 January 2012
to 31 December 2012, and the first Action Plan included 41 commitments. The first
Independent Reporting Mechanism’s assessment was then published in September 2013.
The UK is now 18 months into its second NAP. This plan was developed between October
2012 and October 2013 with a draft published for consultation in June 2013. The second
plan was to be implemented between October 2013 and October 2015. This report covers
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the first 18 months of implementation of this period, from October 2013 until March 2015.
The government published its mid-term self-assessment in March of 2015.
Basic institutional context
The Cabinet Office, which supports the Prime Minister and ensures the effective running of
government, was the leading department responsible for coordinating the UK’s OGP
commitments across a wide number of departments and bodies. In the second NAP,
different departments carried out particular tasks. For example, the Department for
International Development (DFID) oversaw international aid, the National Archives record
management. Before and during the second NAP, the Cabinet Office transparency team
oversaw the development and implementation of the plan overall, coordinated the regular
updates on each commitment, and authored the mid-term assessment in March 2015. This
approach differed somewhat from the approach in the first NAP where the department
actually carrying out the reforms tended to be the Cabinet Office itself, with little
involvement from other departments or agencies.
The implementation of each commitment was the responsibility of a particular lead
department or, sometimes, a set of departments or bodies working together. Alongside the
lead was a network of civil society organizations (CSOs) with an interest in the area. Some
commitments also involved a wider group of sector bodies or authorities, for example, local
government, the police, or the National Health Service (NHS).
The different commitments covered a wide variety of policy tools and mechanisms. The
extent to which progress against each commitment could be assessed varied. Some
commitments involved legislative change, whereas others involved the creation of new
online tools. A number involved working alongside national and international networks,
whether other governments or private bodies.
Finally, it is important to note that the UK is a centralised system with reasonably strong
control over local government. However, in the past two decades, new sub-national
devolved governments in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, as well as local
governments in England, have developed distinct policy agendas and, as the mid-term
assessment recognizes, started to push their own open government agendas. These need to
be drawn in to the UK-wide process, especially as these bodies have been promised greater
powers in.
No specific extra resources were provided for any of the OGP commitments. Aside from the
work by the Cabinet Office Transparency Team, the costs of each commitment came from
the individual department with lead responsibility for that commitment.
Methodological note
The IRM partners with experienced, independent national researchers to author and
disseminate reports for each OGP-participating government. In the UK, the IRM partnered
with Ben Worthy, an academic based at Birkbeck College, University of London. Ben Worthy
reviewed the government’s self-assessment report, gathered the views of civil society, and
interviewed appropriate government officials and other stakeholders. OGP staff and a panel
of experts reviewed the report.
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This report covers the first 18 months of implementation of the UK’s second National Action
Plan, from October 2013 to March 2015. This report follows on an earlier review of OGP
performance, “UK Progress Report 2012-2013,” which covered the development of the first
NAP as well as implementation from 1 January to 31 December 2012. The second NAP was
developed between October 2012 and October 2013 through a process of consultation.
To gather the voices of multiple stakeholders, Ben Worthy used a series of interviews with
participating CSOs as well as an online survey and forum to gather views. A focus group was
planned and organized in March 2015 but was cancelled due to lack of numbers (the IRM
researcher recognized that CSOs may have been overburdened with a series of
consultations, as well as the pressure of the forthcoming election). The researcher also drew
on a survey conducted by UK government of officials and CSOs in December 2014 and
reviewed key documents prepared by the government: reports on the first Action Plan and
the government’s first self-assessment;1 a series of three updates made for each
commitment in April 2014, September 2014, and January 2015 respectively; the second
Action Plan; and the mid-term self-assessment published by the government in March
2015.2 Numerous references are made to these documents throughout this report.
Summaries of the proceedings of these forums are given in Section VIII.
1 The first National Action Plan is at http://bit.ly/1EDNviW and http://bit.ly/1zquOz7To see the updates, go to link (below), scroll
down, and click on an individual commitment http://bit.ly/1uFCGYz
2 The second National Action Plan is at http://bit.ly/1Gi4etIand the story of its development is at http://bit.ly/1JTyQA0. The 2015
mid-term self-assessment is at http://bit.ly/1DWUkY8. You can view the individual commitments updates by clicking on the link and
viewing the PDFs at the bottom of the page at http://bit.ly/1uFCGYz
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II. Action Plan Development
The UK government consulted extensively on the second National Action Plan and
worked hard to engage stakeholders and CSOs.
Countries participating in OGP follow a set process for consultation during development of
their OGP action plans. According to the OGP Articles of Governance, countries must—
Make the details of their public consultation process and timeline available (online
at minimum) prior to the consultation;
● Consult widely with the national community, including civil society and the private
sector; seek out a diverse range of views; and make a summary of the public
consultation and all individual written comment submissions available online;
● Undertake OGP awareness-raising activities to enhance public participation in the
consultation; and
● Consult the population with sufficient forewarning and through a variety of
mechanisms—including online and through in-person meetings—to ensure the
accessibility of opportunities for citizens to engage.
A fifth requirement, during consultation, is set out in the OGP Articles of Governance. This
requirement is dealt with in the section “III: Consultation during implementation”:
●
●
Countries are to identify a forum to enable regular multi-stakeholder consultation
on OGP implementation—this can be an existing entity or a new one.
This is dealt with in the next section, but evidence for consultation both before and during
implementation is included here and in Table 1 for ease of reference.
Table 1: Action Plan Consultation Process
PHASE OF
ACTION PLAN
OGP PROCESS REQUIREMENT (ARTICLES
OF GOVERNANCE SECTION)
DID THE
GOVERNMENT MEET
THIS REQUIREMENT?
During
Development
Were timeline and process available prior to
consultation?
Yes
Was the timeline available online?
Yes
Was the timeline available through other
channels?
Yes
Provide any links to the timeline.
http://bit.ly/1GEJcUM
Was there advance notice of the consultation?
Yes
How many days of advance notice were
provided?
83
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Was this notice adequate?
During
Implementatio
n
Yes
Did the government carry out awarenessraising activities?
Yes
Provide any links to awareness-raising
activities.
http://bit.ly/1yPIjCq
Were consultations held online?
Yes
Provide any links to online consultations.
http://bit.ly/1Gi4etI
Were in-person consultations held?
Yes
Was a summary of comments provided?
No
Were consultations open or by invitation
only?
Open
Place the consultations on the IAP2 spectrum.
Collaboration
Was there a regular forum for consultation
during implementation?
Yes
Were consultations open or invitation only?
Open
Place the consultations on the IAP2 spectrum.
Collaboration
http://bit.ly/1NOOs8W
Advance notice and awareness-raising
In October 2012 the minister for the Cabinet Office announced that the United Kingdom’s
second NAP would be developed in partnership with civil society. Before this, a network of
CSOs in April 2012 began setting up mailing lists and pressing for action. So as to have a
single CSO to coordinate and facilitate the representation of different groups’ views when
speaking with the government, in September 2012, Involve, an organisation that promotes
active public involvement in policy, was appointed as the representative of CSOs.
The formal advance notice was issued in June 2013, when the government posted clear
instructions with the process and timeline for public consultation on its website at
http://bitly.com/1dui8WT. The consultation ran from 12:00 a.m., 27 June 2013, to
11:45 p.m., 19 September 2013.
Depth and breadth of consultation
In order to foster public consultation, the UK government drew on the pre-existing network
of varied CSO groups built during the first NAP. For the second plan, 30 different groups
from the OGP UK Civil Society Network (listed below) worked closely with the government
in drafting the plan, This involved a series of discussions and meetings co-ordinated and cochaired by the Cabinet Office and Involve. The NAP was moved from draft to final report as
CSOs worked with officials in lead departments through a series of meetings and
discussions.
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The public was also invited to submit comments during the consultation period from June
to October 2013. Comments were also invited via the media.3 Nevertheless, some CSOs
thought that more could be done to encourage and facilitate interaction by a wider group of
stakeholders and groups.4
According to the second NAP, consultees included a “mailing list of representatives from
over 50 civil society organisations working towards open government in the UK and
internationally.”5 The report went on to explain that “over 30 civil society organisations
have been actively involved in the development of this plan.” The list of 36 follows:
Article 19
Big Lottery Fund
Big Society Capital
CAFOD
Campaign for Freedom of Information
Centre for Global Development
Christian Aid
City of London Bridges Trust
Compact Voice
Construction Sector Transparency
Initiative (CoST)
Corruption Watch
Development Initiatives
Engineers Against Poverty
Global Witness
Institution of Civil Engineers
Integrity Action
Involve
Macmillan Cancer Support
Nuffield Trust
ONE
Open Knowledge Foundation
Open Rights Group
OpenCorporates
Oxfam
Public Concern at Work
Publish What You Fund
Publish What You Pay UK
Save the Children
Social Enterprise UK
Tearfund
The Corner House
The Democratic Society
The Institute for Government
The International Records Management Trust
Transparency International UK
A number of other bodies were involved less directly, including the Information
Commissioner's Office; independent experts carrying out a review; the Open Data User
3 See the second National Action Plan consultation (now closed) http://bit.ly/1Gi4etI
4 See reflections on the process from Involve at http://bit.ly/1ySdpcF
5 See the second National Action Plan document-annexe B list of the organisations involved at http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8(the starred CSOs
signed the foreword to the final report).
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Group, a stakeholder group representing the open data community; and the Open Data
Institute. The process also involved consultation with a number of other bodies, from local
government to the police. Later, an inquiry by the Public Administration Select Committee
into Open Data overlapped with the NAP consultation.6
The 36 CSO groups included a broad mixture of concerns. These included information rights
groups (CFOI, Article 19), anti-corruption bodies and political reform nongovernmental
organisations (NGOs) (Corruption Watch, Democratic Society), open data innovators (Open
Corporates, Open Knowledge Foundation, Open Rights Group), as well as a number of
specific charities (Christian Aid, Oxfam, Macmillan Cancer). There were also professional
bodies (Institution of Civil Engineers) and funding bodies (The Nuffield Trust, the Big
Lottery Fund). The government sought to involve CSOs closely in the process and shared
and co-jointly worked with them on successive drafts of the Action Plan.
Involve commented on the process afterwards:
[T]he process of developing the National Action Plan has been as important as the
commitments that are in it. The CSO foreword to the plan commends the
commitment to openness demonstrated in the development of this plan by officials
from the Cabinet Office Transparency Team, as well as government teams involved in
drafting commitments.7 [emphasis added]
Involve went on to praise the “very different way that this plan has been developed when
compared to the last time round.”
Involve thought that the joint “process has delivered a plan that is far stronger than the
government could have developed alone.” Involve described the process as a “genuine
search for a partnership,” rather than co-option.
The organisation acknowledges that it was challenging at times:
CSOs have not accepted all of the commitments that the government wanted to
include in the plan, either because they were not stretching enough or [because] we
did not believe that they contributed to genuine open government. At the same time,
the government has not accepted every proposal that we have made.8
Involve concluded that “the relationship has been challenging at times, [but] it has been
positive and productive overall.”
As an example, in October 2013, just in advance of the OGP summit in London and launch of
the plan, CSOs expressed concerns that the plan lacked ambition and at “the absence of any
truly ambitious new commitments.”9 These CSOs recommended that steps be taken to open
up companies, and the decision was made for an open register just before the OGP summit,
so as to allow greater public scrutiny of public money and open up the lobbying process.
6 See the section “Who We Are Working With” at http://bit.ly/1hDCHG2
7 See this comment from Involve on the process 31 October 2013: http://bit.ly/1zg4UO1
8 As above, see comment from Involve on the process 31 October 2013: http://bit.ly/1zg4UO1
9 See this open letter from the CSOs to the Prime Minister sent 8 October 2013 at http://bit.ly/1Jbzmt8
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Only then, they argued, could the UK “send a clear message about the UK’s commitment to
open government” to others, at a time when it was chair of the Open Government
Partnership.
Consultation involved detailed co-operation between CSOs and the government through cochaired meetings and discussions of successive drafts of the National Action Plan. It also
involved activity and discussions on blogs, mailing lists, Twitter, and other social media.
Two NAP events took place in London and Manchester between the government and CSO
representatives with the latter organised separately by CSOs. In the run-up to June 2013,
there was a loss of key officials within the Cabinet Office, which meant that there were no
lead officials for two months. As a result, the planned country-wide series of meetings
(stemming from the two in London and Manchester) did not take place.10
Stakeholders interviewed found that the use of online discussion was successful, but more
use could have been made of it. Meetings were held in 'neutral' venues11. Although in
principle meetings held were open to any representatives from UK-based CSOs, in practice
the location and timing of these meetings in London at midday restricted access. In an
attempt to mitigate this, remote participation was established for meetings through a
webinar service.
Additional information
The government pointed out that outside of the NAP, numerous further reviews were
carried out, and other bodies were involved with the wider open data agenda. These
included—
●
●
●
The Information Commissioner’s Office looking into data anonymisation;12
Ongoing discussions with the policy advisory body the Open Data User Group, which
held regular meetings;13 and
Ongoing work of the Open Data Institute.14
In parallel to the creation of the second National Action Plan, there was—
●
●
An independent review of public-sector information by Stephen Shakespeare in
201315 and
A review by the Public Administration Select Committee on Open Data, the initial
evidence sessions of which overlapped with the publication of the NAP.16
10 See the detailed discussion of the process at http://bit.ly/1yPIjCq
11 See the reflections on the process at http://bit.ly/1ySdpcF
12 See background on the ICO at http://bit.ly/1GyNVnr
13 See about the Open Data User Group at http://bit.ly/1Ir7EKD
14 See about the Open Data Institute at http://bit.ly/1fIdjwe
15 You can read the 2013 Shakespeare Review at http://bit.ly/1EFyY6l
16 The PASC Select Committee report is at http://bit.ly/1FzSCBl
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The UK government’s time as co-chair of the OGP was also used as a lever by CSOs to
persuade the government to seek more ambitious targets. In the media, the Guardian
newspaper also covered the launch of the draft NAP via its Public Leaders Network. The
paper also asked for readers’ comments on the proposals, although none were registered.17
17 http://bit.ly/1GIDiRF
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III. Action Plan Implementation
Regular multi-stakeholder consultation
There were two overlapping fora, one for the CSOs and one for the public. The CSO forum
was based on the first NAP mechanisms and adapted for the second NAP. The invitation to
participate was drawn widely, with more than 50 varied groups included on an email list
and 36 contributing. The initial process, getting to the draft NAP stage, consisted of four
pre-organised meetings in neutral venues in London. As a signal of co-operation, the
government chaired two of the meetings, and CSOs, the other two. Two further consultation
exercises were held in London and Manchester that were open to the public, the latter being
organized by CSOs.
A series of further possible events did not take place owing to staff shortages in the lead
department (the Cabinet Office). Both the government and the CSOs thought the discussions
online via social media and email lists were productive.
The CSOs then coordinated with leads in government departments to work on the draft
commitments. Numerous meetings and exchanges led to agreement on the wording of each
commitment for the final NAP.
The meetings were viewed as positive and influential, described by the lead CSO as a
“genuine partnership.” The CSOs had a clear influence over the content and thought that
their input had worked to improve the quality and ambition of the commitments. The CSOs
helped ensure “that weak commitments were not included” and others were suitably
framed.18
The CSO involvement enhanced the credibility of the process and helped make the CSOs
part of the plan’s implementation. The CSOs were from a broad base, from professional
bodies to charities and professional organizations. Their interests were similarly broad,
stretching from political and information rights activists to data innovators and sector
specific charities. Officials were represented in the meeting, both from the Cabinet Office
and specific departments with responsibility for certain commitments. Minutes of the
meetings were not made available, but the CSOs gave detailed analysis and reflections
afterwards.
The public forum consisted of an open consultation running from June until October of
2013. A draft NAP was offered as a focus for discussion and posted online on the gov.uk site,
and responses were encouraged via email or the government data portal with
accompanying publicity in a national newspaper (The Guardian). The government received
11 substantive responses to the consultation, but these were not available at the time of
writing this report.19
18 http://bit.ly/1ySdpcF
19 http://bit.ly/1Gi4etI
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After the NAP was published, the CSOs and government planned to work together on
implementation. Officials and CSOs engaged in this process to rather different degrees and
in different ways, with some working closely and others less involved for a number of
reasons (see Recommendations). The two groups did seek to work through the progress
updates. The Cabinet Office also set up two meetings between the Cabinet Office minister
and the CSO steering group to discuss progress and to help deal with any outstanding
issues.
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IV. Analysis of Action Plan Contents
All OGP participating governments develop OGP country action plans that elaborate
concrete commitments over an initial two-year period. Governments begin their OGP
country action plans by sharing existing efforts related to open government, including
specific strategies and ongoing programs. Action plans then set out governments’ OGP
commitments, which stretch practice beyond its current baseline. These commitments may
build on existing efforts, identify new steps to complete ongoing reforms, or initiate action
in an entirely new area.
Commitments should be appropriate to each country’s unique circumstances and policy
interests. OGP commitments should also be relevant to OGP values laid out in the OGP
Articles of Governance and Open Government Declaration signed by all OGP participating
countries. The IRM uses the following guidance to evaluate relevance to core open
government values:
Access to information
Commitments around access to information:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Pertain to government-held information, as opposed to only information on
government activities. As an example, releasing government-held information on
pollution would be clearly relevant, although the information is not about
“government activity” per se;
Are not restricted to data but pertain to all information. For example, releasing
individual construction contracts and releasing data on a large set of construction
contracts;
May include information disclosures in open data and the systems that underpin the
public disclosure of data;
May cover both proactive and/or reactive releases of information;
May cover both making data more available and/or improving the technological
readability of information;
May pertain to mechanisms to strengthen the right to information (such as
ombudsman’s offices or information tribunals);
Must provide open access to information (it should not be privileged or internal
only to government);
Should promote transparency of government decision making and carrying out of
basic functions;
May seek to lower cost of obtaining information;
Should strive to meet the 5 Star for Open Data design (http://5stardata.info/).
Civic participation
Commitments around civic participation may pertain to formal public participation or to
broader civic participation. They should generally seek to “consult,” “involve,” “collaborate,”
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or “empower,” as explained by the International Association for Public Participation’s Public
Participation Spectrum (http://bit.ly/1kMmlYC).
Commitments addressing public participation:
●
●
●
Must open up decision making to all interested members of the public; such forums
are usually “top-down” in that they are created by government (or actors
empowered by government) to inform decision making throughout the policy cycle;
Can include elements of access to information to ensure meaningful input of
interested members of the public into decisions;
Often include the right to have your voice heard, but do not necessarily include the
right to be a formal part of a decision making process.
Alternately, commitments may address the broader operating environment that enables
participation in civic space. Examples include but are not limited to:
●
●
●
Reforms increasing freedoms of assembly, expression, petition, press, or
association;
Reforms on association including trade union laws or NGO laws;
Reforms improving the transparency and process of formal democratic processes
such as citizen proposals, elections, or petitions.
The following commitments are examples of commitments that would not be marked as
clearly relevant to the broader term, civic participation:
●
●
●
Commitments that assume participation will increase due to publication of
information without specifying the mechanism for such participation (although this
commitment would be marked as “access to information”);
Commitments on decentralization that do not specify the mechanisms for enhanced
public participation;
Commitments that define participation as inter-agency cooperation without a
mechanism for public participation.
Commitments that may be marked of “unclear relevance” also include those mechanisms
where participation is limited to government-selected organizations.
Public accountability
Commitments improving accountability can include:
●
Rules, regulations, and mechanisms that call upon government actors to justify their
actions, act upon criticisms or requirements made of them, and accept responsibility
for failure to perform with respect to laws or commitments.
Consistent with the core goal of “Open Government,” to be counted as “clearly relevant,”
such commitments must include a public-facing element, meaning that they are not purely
internal systems of accountability. While such commitments may be laudable and may meet
an OGP grand challenge, they do not, as articulated, meet the test of “clear relevance” due to
their lack of openness. Where such internal-facing mechanisms are a key part of
government strategy, it is recommended that governments include a public facing element
such as:
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● Disclosure of non-sensitive metadata on institutional activities (following maximum
disclosure principles);
● Citizen audits of performance;
● Citizen-initiated appeals processes in cases of non-performance or abuse.
Strong commitments around accountability ascribe rights, duties, or consequences for
actions of officials or institutions. Formal accountability commitments include means of
formally expressing grievances or reporting wrongdoing and achieving redress. Examples
of strong commitments include:
●
●
●
●
Improving or establishing appeals processes for denial of access to information;
Improving access to justice by making justice mechanisms cheaper, faster, or easier
to use;
Improving public scrutiny of justice mechanisms;
Creating public tracking systems for public complaints processes (such as case
tracking software for police or anti-corruption hotlines).
A commitment that claims to improve accountability, but assumes that merely providing
information or data without explaining what mechanism or intervention will translate that
information into consequences or change, would not qualify as an accountability
commitment. See http://bit.ly/1oWPXdl for further information.
Technology and innovation for openness and accountability
OGP aims to enhance the use of technology and innovation to enable public involvement in
government. Specifically, commitments that use technology and innovation should enhance
openness and accountability by:
●
●
●
Promoting new technologies that offer opportunities for information sharing, public
participation, and collaboration.
Making more information public in ways that enable people to both understand
what their governments do and to influence decisions.
Working to reduce costs of using these technologies.
Additionally, commitments that will be marked as technology and innovation:
●
●
●
May commit to a process of engaging civil society and the business community to
identify effective practices and innovative approaches for leveraging new
technologies to empower people and promote transparency in government;
May commit to supporting the ability of governments and citizens to use technology
for openness and accountability;
May support the use of technology by government employees and citizens alike.
Not all eGovernment reforms improve openness of government. When an eGovernment
commitment is made, it needs to articulate how it enhances at least one of the following:
access to information, public participation, or public accountability.
Recognizing that achieving open government commitments often involves a multiyear
process, governments should attach time frames and benchmarks to their commitments
that indicate what is to be accomplished each year, whenever possible. This report details
each of the commitments that the United Kingdom included in its Action Plan, and analyses
them for the first year of implementation.
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All of the indicators and method used in the IRM research can be found in the IRM
Procedures Manual, available at (http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/about-irm).
One measure deserves further explanation because of its particular interest for readers and
usefulness for encouraging a race to the top between OGP-participating countries: the
starred commitment. Starred commitments are considered to be exemplary OGP
commitments. In order to receive a star, a commitment must meet several criteria:
1. It must be specific enough that a judgment can be made about its potential impact.
Starred commitments will have medium or high specificity.
2. The commitment’s language should make clear its relevance to opening
government. Specifically, it must relate to at least one of the OGP values of access to
information, civic participation, or public accountability.
3. The commitment would have a transformative potential impact if completely
implemented.
4. Finally, the commitment must see significant progress during the action plan
implementation period, receiving a ranking of substantial or complete
implementation.
Based on these criteria, the UK action plan contained four starred commitments, namely:
- Commitment 6: Cross-government anti-corruption policy
- Commitment 7: Company beneficial ownership information
- Commitment 14: International aid transparency
- Commitment 21: Extractive transparency
Note that the IRM updated the star criteria in early 2015 in order to raise the bar for model
OGP commitments. Under the old criteria, a commitment received a star if it was
measurable, clearly relevant to OGP values as written, had moderate or transformative
impact, and was substantially or completely implemented.
Based on these old criteria, the UK action plan would have received an additional five
starred commitments:
- Commitment 1: National information infrastructure
- Commitment 3: Revised local authorities data transparency code
- Commitment 5: Manage and capture digital records
- Commitment 10: Legislative openness
- Commitment 15: Health care data
Finally, the graphs in this section present an excerpt of the wealth of data the IRM collects
during its progress reporting process. For the full dataset for the United Kingdom, and all
OGP-participating countries, see the OGP Explorer.20
20 The OGP Explorer provides the OGP community—civil society, academics, governments, and journalists—easy access to the
wealth of data that OGP has collected. It is available at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/explorer/landing
29
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General overview of the commitments
The UK government’s second NAP was created via a multi-stakeholder process that
involved meetings and discussions between a number of CSOs, led by Involve, and the UK
government between 2012 and 2013.
Prior to the OGP action plan, the UK government was already committed to a series of
transparency reforms under its Transparency Agenda. This agenda involves a wide variety
of open government and open data innovations, including the development of the data
platform data.gov.uk; crowd-sourcing initiatives; and publication of data across central
government, local government, and other bodies such as the NHS. Some policies dated back
to previous administrations, such as the previous Labour government’s commitment to
reduce the closed time period for some public records from 30 years to 20 years.
The UK government’s commitments were framed by its previous first NAP from 2011 to
2012. The plan was given additional impetus by the UK’s presidency of the G8 in 2013 as
well as its co-chairing of the Open Government Partnership from September 2012 to
October 2013, which concluded with the OGP summit in London 2013 where the NAP was
launched.
The second NAP included 21 different commitments of varying degrees of complexity and
detail. They covered numerous topics and international, national, and local policies of very
different types. The commitments ranged from publishing data to strategy documents and
changes to the information infrastructure. At the centre of the plan were a series of highprofile international commitments on beneficial ownership, extractives, and international
aid. The UK Action Plan is divided into five thematic clusters that include open data,
government integrity, fiscal transparency, empowering citizens, and natural resource
transparency.
Throughout the period, the UK government pushed to be a world leader on open
government. It came top in two international assessments of open data in 2014 and 2015. It
also scored top in a survey of the G8 countries’ commitments to the Open Data Charter of
2015. The UK scored lower, but still in the top 10, in the 2015 World Justice Project Open
Government Index, ranking 8th out of 102 countries. A Transparency International Open
Government report in April 2015 concluded that, although the UK government had
relatively few legal provisions in terms of openness, it was “stronger in practice than in law”
with a patchwork of approaches and a relatively light touch oversight regime.21
Editorial note: Given the relatively long text for the UK commitments, some of them,
excerpted in the sections that follow, have been abridged by the author to save space. The
full text of each commitment in the second NAP is available at http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8.
Furthermore, some of the commitments consist of several milestones. In those cases, the
evaluation of the commitment is based on the individual milestones as set out in the
21 Open Knowledge Foundation Global Open Data Index 2014, http://bit.ly/12nCTom, Open Data Barometer Second Edition January
2015 http://bit.ly/1KYqcmf, the G8 assessment http://bit.ly/1Ewa33p the World Justice ranking at http://bit.ly/1FzUp9M and the TI
report at http://bit.ly/1CIfEo6
30
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
government ActionPlan under the subheading ‘Timescale.” Where appropriate, the IRM
researcher has grouped some of these milestones together.
31
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
1: National Information Infrastructure
The UK government will continue to develop and list an inventory of all the datasets it owns,
whether published or unpublished, in order to identify the National Information Infrastructure
(NII)the datasets which are likely to have the broadest and most significant economic and
social impact if made available. The identification of the NII will facilitate discussions to
prioritise the release of these datasets.
Supporting civil society organisations
Open Knowledge Foundation, Open Rights Group, OpenCorporates
Impact and vision
[…] The UK’s ambition is to release these datasets openly as per the Open Data Charter
wherever possible and it will commit to a publication timetable.
Context
[…] the government committed to increased transparency about what data it holds, at the
same time highlighting which datasets might have the broadest and deepest potential
economic and/or social impact to enable better public services. This allows government to
hold itself accountable to the public as well as allowing for interactions for a range of benefits.
The public, business, civil society and developers are all interested in accessing data. […]
Timescales
The key milestones for the delivery of this commitment are for:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
departments to provide release dates for datasets in the first iteration of the NII, where
there are no barriers to publication, and, where there are barriers, provide an
explanation for non-publication by December 2013
departments to set out arrangements they have put in place to describe the
provenance and ensure the quality and regularity of the release of data they have
within the NII by January 2014
departments, including their arm’s length bodies (ALBs), to ensure that their list of
unpublished datasets is comprehensive by March 2014
departments to develop internal processes which identify unpublished datasets when
they are created and ensure that they are added to the inventory on data.gov.uk by
March 2014
departments to develop internal processes which ensure that data holders regularly
reconsider the use cases for their data by April 2014 [use case is a list of steps in
systems engineering]
all central government departments to highlight those datasets which they must
provide on a statutory basis by April 2014, followed by their ALBs by September 2014
all central government departments to highlight those datasets which it considers fall
under their public task by April 2014, followed by their ALBs by September 2014
32
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
33
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
Specificity
OGP value relevance
No
ne
M
N
e
L
o
d
o
n
i
w
e
u
m
H
i
g
h
Ac
ces
s
to
Inf
or
ma
tio
n
C
i
v
i
c
P
a
r
ti
c
i
p
a
ti
o
n
Publ
ic
Acc
ount
abili
ty
Technolo
gy &
Innovatio
n for
Transpare
ncy &
Accounta
bility
Potential Impact
N
o
ne
M
in
or
M
o
de
ra
te
Tr
an
sf
or
m
ati
ve
Completion
N
ot
st
ar
te
d
Li
mi
te
d
Overall
1.1. Datasets
release dates
1.2. Disclose
provenance
arrangements for
dataset releases
1.3. Internal
procedures to
identify
unpublished sets
1.4. Regularly
reconsider the use
cases
1.5. Highlight
statutory vs.
public task
releases
Editorial note: Under the old criteria of starred commitments, this commitment would have received
a star because it is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has moderate potential impact, and has
been substantially or completely implemented (note that IRM updated the star criteria in early
2015).
34
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What happened?
The NII is intended as a dynamic framework detailing “what data public sector bodies hold,
how it is used, and how organisations can get access to it.”22 The commitment sets out that
the data contained within the NII will have the broadest and most significant economic and
social impact if they are made available and accessible outside of government. This
commitment was defined as a collaborative process for identifying sets of important data
and included—
●
●
●
identifying and maintaining an inventory of data held by government;
prioritising data to be included in the NII; and
supporting organisations to release data.23
The commitment was based on advice from an independent review of public-sector
information and discussions with CSOs.24
By the time of the second National Action Plan, the UK government had published more
than 10,000 datasets throughs its Open Data initiative.25 This commitment can thus be seen
as building on commitments in the UK’s previous NAP, such as commitment 1 on the right to
data or commitment 2 on setting standards.26
These next steps in the commitment built upon the release to create a more systematic
approach to cataloguing data held by government, through the establishment of a complete
inventory and internal processes for review. This would allow the public and others to see
the entirety of datasets [though not quantified] held by government and enable
government to create a “roadmap...to prioritise the release of the most (potentially)
impactful datasets.”27 The result would be a framework or a dynamic list of key data across
all bodies. Such an infrastructure would serve as the basis for numerous other
commitments and a foundation of future openness initiatives.
Between March and September 2014, government departments and arm’s length bodies
had identified datasets and were moving forward with publication. However, there was
some delay owing to variability in dataset quality and some discussion about requesting
legal advice over statutory release.28
22 This was detailed in the government’s 2013 National Information Infrastructure Narrative. See page 3 for a summary
http://bit.ly/1DEAiky and this blog post at http://bit.ly/1dwGyWF
23 This was detailed in the government’s 2013 National Information Infrastructure Narrative. See page 3 for a summary
http://bit.ly/1DEAiky and this blog post at http://bit.ly/1dwGyWF
24 See the National Action Plan http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8 and the independnet Shakespeare Review at http://bit.ly/1EFyY6l
25 See the National Action Plan http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
26 See the first UK National Action Plan 2012-2013 http://bit.ly/1uFCGYz
27 See the National Action Plan http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
28 See the September 2014 update for details http://bit.ly/1I0IHXl and January 2015 update http://bit.ly/1JbGnKd
35
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This commitment then changed approach in the course of its implementation, meaning that
a number of the milestones shifted or were superseded, as explained in the January 2015
update. The government sought views from users to inform its next, second iteration and
updated second NII framework. The original idea behind the NII was for a big bang
approach whereby the team would instruct departments as to what datasets to issue by
giving them a mandated list. However, following consultation and reflection on some of the
problems just stated, the government found that the original approach would not reflect the
differing needs of departments and did not really match with the changing nature of
technology. Something more flexible was required.
In the summer of 2014, the Cabinet Office team held a series of three workshops bringing
together CSOs, the development community, government, and representatives from
business (for example, Google) to develop the newer iteration of the NII. The participants
discussed questions about what core data could be included in the new NII and possible
systems or approaches [labelled ontologies].29 The conclusions were that there needed to be
a new thematic and low-level approach and a governance of the process, that is, someone to
be in charge of developing the plan. Participants also recognized that working alongside the
departments and bodies in experimental or beta form (from the bottom up, using datamaturity ideas) would work better than imposing lists as the original commitment asked.30
This new, more iterative approach would be built around timeliness, common vocabularies,
and certification. A chief executive and advisory board with a dashboard to monitor
progress would oversee the process.
In March 2015, the redeveloped NII principles and approach were outlined in a new
implementation plan, which explained the core principles and new governance structure,
where the NII would work with selected departments to move from being a static
framework to a more open hub model. The government also appointed Mike Bracken as the
first ever government chief data officer. His role will involve “developing a new government
data standard, championing open data, and encouraging the use of data in the decisionmaking process.”31Departmental audits relating to the NII are due to begin in the summer of
2015.
Overall, the level of completion of this commitment is substantial. While it varied (from
limited to complete) within the individual milestones that make up this commitment, for the
most part, the government has advanced substantially in its commitment to develop and list
an inventory of all the datasets the government owns.
29 See the results of the workshops discussed http://bit.ly/1q4TQI0 at http://bit.ly/1Kx6MmK and at http://bit.ly/1I0IOT1
30 For a discussion of data maturity, see http://bit.ly/10vbKyO
31 See the March 2015 plan http://bit.ly/1Cnm6Rd and the announcement of Mike Bracken as the first ever government chief data
officer at http://bit.ly/1Bidjfd
36
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Did it matter?
Judging the implementation of the commitment is difficult, given that the work is ongoing.
The National Information Infrastructure is one of the central and most forward-looking
parts of the second NAP. However, the shift in thinking whereby the government sought the
views from a wide range of users through a series of discovery workshops meant that the
original commitment, involving a legislative mandate and set dates, proved unsuitable.
Consequently, some milestones were superseded or became irrelevant.
The process of the NII has moved forward an ambitious agenda, and the team has
responded to external input and recognised how a new approach may fit better. The
process itself involved some innovative and important engagement, particularly via the
workshops in 2014. This offers a better means of creating a sustainable and robust
framework.
There have been delays and obstacles in moving the plan forward, and there may be a need
for increased co-ordination, a role that is likely to be undertaken by the new chief data
officer. The CSOs expressed interest in the NII as one of the key areas within the plan. They
were keen that consideration be given in the future to ways of making the NII more publicfacing by building in stronger transparency and accountability aspects as the NII
progressed.
The IRM researcher finds that the overall potential impact of this commitment is moderate,
based on the findings that the process of the NII introduced a range of innovative
approaches to increase the transparency of datasets and coordinating and offering a
framework for release.
Moving forward
●
●
●
The IRM researcher believes that the next NAP could reflect the new iterative
process and offer a review of the functioning of governance structures and the
dashboard and how this interacts with new roles like the chief data officer and the
operation of the system as a whole, given its reflexive and iterative approach.
The IRM researcher also believes that the series of workshops not only helped
develop new ideas but also facilitated links between diverse groups (for example,
NGOs and businesses). Any future plan or work should involve further interaction
using the same methods.
CSO bodies and stakeholders were concerned that the NII was too inward-facing
and neglected the more public-facing transparency and accountability aspects of the
process. Future iterations need to promote a more public aspect that could then
help, for example, prioritise the release of datasets that are likely to have the most
impact.
37
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2: NHS England Website and Network
NHS England will work with governments and civil society organisations internationally to
create an online space to share experiences of embedding high quality standards into
information, with a view to building an accreditation scheme to enable citizens and
organisations to assess their progress.
Vision and impact
[…] Information systems in healthcare that can share and link data are key to safer, better
quality care and are entirely reliant on high quality information standards. If information is
consistently recorded and reported then it ensures that people are able to confidently make
comparisons about performance or quality and supports the participation of citizens in design
and quality of healthcare. […]
Context
We hope that by sharing our experiences of setting robust standards for healthcare
information, supported by a virtual network and resource hub, we can help other countries as
well as other organisations in the UK to adopt robust information standards.
Through this work we will set out a package of support that other countries can use such as:
●
●
●
establish a virtual network of countries who can share approaches, successes and
challenges and learn from one another
tell the story of how the NHS has implemented high quality standards
establish an index of resources, published under the Open Government Licence, that
other countries can interrogate, use and localise.
We will also signal an intention to collaborate through this network to develop a framework of
standards that any nation can use to assess how well they are doing.
Timescales
The key milestones for the delivery of this commitment are:
website established (October 2013)
participation in the virtual network by 15 member states and civil society
organisations (June 2014)
● accreditation system established (Autumn 2014)
Additional milestones will be developed with civil society organisations and international
partners.
●
●
Editorial note: The evaluation of the level of completion of this commitment is based on the
individual milestones that make up this commitment, as set out above under the
subheading “Timescale,” or as deemed relevant by the IRM researcher.
Specificity
OGP value relevance
Potential Impact
Completion
38
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
No
C
ne
i
v
i
Ac
c
ces
M
P
s
N
e H
a
L
to
o
d i
r
o
Inf
n
i g
ti
w
or
e
u h
c
ma
m
i
tio
p
n
a
ti
o
n
Publ
ic
Acc
ount
abili
ty
Overall
Technolo
gy &
Innovatio
n for
Transpare
ncy &
Accounta
bility
N
o
ne
M
in
or
M
o
de
ra
te
Tr
an
sf
or
m
ati
ve
N
ot
st
ar
te
d
Li
mi
te
d
Su
bs
ta
nt
ial
Withdrawn
2.1. Website
established
Withdrawn
2.2. Virtual
network
participation
Withdrawn
2.3. Accreditation
system
established
Withdrawn
What happened?
The commitment aimed at creating a website that allows the public and others to share
experiences of the NHS and offer ideas as to assessment. It was intended to represent the
first step in building an accreditation scheme. The website would allow access to the health
information market with data that “can be readily used [and] re-used” by the public, private
sector, and CSOs.32
The commitment also looked into the future, with a larger ambition to allow comparison of
the UK health system against 15 other health systems across Europe, using clear
measurables established in co-operation. The policy consisted of three milestones, but it
was suggested that “additional milestones will be developed with civil society organisations
and international partners.”33
32 See The UK National Action Plan commitment 2 http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
33 See The UK National Action Plan commitment 2 http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
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The commitments were developed at a time of large-scale reform to the UK National Health
Service. In 2012-2013 the Health and Social Care Act radically altered the structure of the
NHS with new oversight and bodies re-designed to increase patient choice and
participation.34 A series of reports in 2012 and 2013, such as the Francis Inquiry and the
Keogh Review, emphasised the need to build greater transparency and openness within the
NHS.35
The commitment process was weakened—and the milestones closed—by lack of wider CSO
interest that was driven by privacy concerns over data-sharing under the care.data
proposal, and the sale of Hospital data that - as the Partridge Review revealed - had been
going on for years (see commitment 15). The update from January 2015 outlined how there
were “initial conversations prior to agreement with various organisations, though this
commitment proceeded unsupported.36” It was also superseded by ongoing organisational
changes within the NHS and shifts of responsibility. For example, work on information
standards was to be overtaken and priorities set “by the National Information Board, which
has a dedicated work stream.37” On the international commitments, there was a lack of
uptake from the other countries involved in the network.38
Overall, overall limited progress was made, and the milestones have been closed because of
a combination of organizational change, engagement problems, and a lack of traction on the
international aspects. The Cabinet Office is working with the Department of Health and NHS
England to take this work forward.
Did it matter?
The milestones of this commitment have been registered as closed. As the commitment
progressed, it encountered a series of difficulties, which meant the “milestones were
superseded,” and work was transferred. The public and media concern over care.data had a
severe impact both on this commitment and commitment 15, meaning that the CSOs and
stakeholders were reluctant to engage. This means that an important series of health care
innovations fell some way short of the commitment and were halted.
If it had not been closed, the commitment would have had a moderate impact. It would have
built on the long-term move in the UK towards increased participation of patients and
would have helped push international assessment and co-operation.
34 For background on NHS England, see http://bit.ly/1bGkc3R
35 See page 9 of this guidance at http://bit.ly/1FA4ROi
36 The January update can be read at http://bit.ly/1Q2EbsG. The National Information Board website can be found at
http://bit.ly/1wWl3EL
37 The January update can be read at http://bit.ly/1Q2EbsG. The National Information Board website can be found at
http://bit.ly/1wWl3EL
38 The January update can be read at http://bit.ly/1Q2EbsG. The National Information Board website can be found at
http://bit.ly/1wWl3EL
40
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Moving forward
●
The IRM researcher would recommend that, given the importance of healthcare,
there should be renewed work on experiments and innovations in the next action
plan, such as the networks and applications that can allow patients to assess the
performance of health services. There also needs to be a clear idea of who takes the
policy forward (especially if there is likely to be more change in the future).
41
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3: Revised Local Authorities Data Transparency Code
The UK government will issue a revised Local Authorities Data Transparency Code requiring
local authorities to publish key information and data. This will place more power into citizens’
hands and make it easier for local people to contribute to the local decision making process
and help shape public services.
Supporting civil society organisations
Compact Voice.
Vision and impact
[…] The data needs to be presented so that it can be understood by citizens and community
groups, reused in web and mobile phone applications to drive innovation and business growth,
analysed and compared for sector led improvement, and commented and consulted on in
social media. […]
Context
In September 2011 the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published
the Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency. This Code was
issued to meet the government’s desire to place more power into citizens’ hands to increase
democratic accountability and make it easier for local people to contribute to the local
decision making process and help shape public services. The government will issue a revised
Code and is minded to bring into force regulations to make it a legal requirement for local
authorities to publish data in accordance with parts of the revised Code.
Local authorities have responded positively to this agenda-all local authorities are already
publishing expenditure of £500 and over, but performance on publishing other data varies
across authorities; the NAO [National Audit Office] found that only 4% of local authorities
published information on land and building assets. The revised Code will ensure greater
consistency in the data that is made available to local people across England.
Timescales
The next steps to deliver this policy are to:
●
●
●
●
●
publish the government response to its consultation on revising the Code, including a
draft of the revised Code (November 2013)
issue the revised Local Authorities Data Transparency Code (Winter 2013)
bring into force regulations making it a legal requirement for local authorities to
publish data in accordance with the Code (Winter 2013)
work with the sector, eg local government workshops, to disseminate guidance and
good practice (Spring to Summer 2014)
work with the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Information
Commissioner’s Office to adopt a light touch approach to monitoring and enforcement
and determine levels of compliance during the 2014 to 2015 period
Means
42
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We are going to support this policy through:
●
●
●
providing new burdens funding following the enactment of any regulations
engaging in a dialogue with councils across the country, eg roadshows
working with the LGA, Local eGovernment Standards Body etc to develop appropriate
guidance
Specificity
OGP value relevance
No
ne
M
N
e
L
o
d
o
n
i
w
e
u
m
H
i
g
h
Ac
ces
s
to
Inf
or
ma
tio
n
C
i
v
i
c
P
a
r
ti
c
i
p
a
ti
o
n
Publ
ic
Acc
ount
abili
ty
Technolo
gy &
Innovatio
n for
Transpare
ncy &
Accounta
bility
Potential Impact
N
o
ne
M
in
or
M
o
de
ra
te
Tr
an
sf
or
m
ati
ve
Completion
N
ot
st
ar
te
d
Li
mi
te
d
Overall
3.1. Publish
government
response to
revising the code
3.2. Revised Local
Authorities Data
Transparency
Code
3.3. Legal
requirement for
local authorities
to publish data
3.4. Disseminate
guidance and
good practice
3.5. Light touch
approach
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Editorial note: Under the old criteria of starred commitments, this commitment would have received
a star because it is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has moderate potential impact, and has
been substantially or completely implemented (note that IRM updated the star criteria in early
2015).
What happened?
This commitment built upon a set of initiatives undertaken in 2011, when the government
set out a recommended draft code of practice on local transparency as part of its
Transparency Agenda.39. All 353 local authorities in England were “required by legislation
to consider the code in coming to any decision on publicity, which is defined as any
communication, in whatever form, addressed to the public or a section of the public.”40
The 2011 code was developed following consultation with local authorities and a short
review by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee in Parliament.41 The
code covered publication of spending data, organisation charts, councillors' expenses, as
well as other information. Local authorities were also encouraged to use Contracts Finder
(the UK government’s online procurement service that allows government buyers to
publish contract notices online) and other proactive mechanisms to publish contractual
information.42 Information was to be demand-led, open, and timely. The policy fitted within
a wider range of changes, in law and through codes of practice, intended to open up English
local government.43
By 2012, the UK central government was concerned that English local authorities were not
publishing as consistently as they could. Research by the NAO in 2012 and a local
government association survey in the same year pointed to variability in levels of
publication for different data. For example, only 4 percent of authorities were publishing
details of land and assets (worth £220 billion).44
In 2014, the government used secondary legislation (called statutory instruments) to
amend the Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980 following a debate in Parliament.
One of the instruments required positive affirmation (requiring parliamentary agreement
through a debate), and one was negative (and did not require a debate).45 These
instruments were passed and have amended how regularly data will be published and what
is included in the schemes.
39 For background, see http://bit.ly/1QOOoue
40 For the original draft from 2011, see http://bit.ly/1GKshSM
41 For background, see http://bit.ly/1QOOoue
42 See the UK National Action Plan commitment 3 http://bit.ly/1GKshSM
43 For a summary of other changes, see House of Commons Library (2014) Local Government Transparency in England [Standard
Note: SN/PC/06046]. London: TSO.
44 See the Local Government Association Transparency Survey at http://bit.ly/1DYXcDU, in particular page 6 for the variety of
datasets published across English local authorities.
45 See http://bit.ly/1OIJIHu and the statutory instruments at http://bit.ly/1GIVJWu and at http://bit.ly/1Gz2eIL
44
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
Alongside this, the government produced successively updated versions of the Local
Government Transparency Code. A series of three consultations took place in 2013, with a
draft code then circulated and tested on six selected local authorities. The questions from
the consultation were turned into a document containing frequently asked questions to
assist with good practice.46 After the 2014 code, the latest version was published on 27
February 2015, extending the regulations to cover social housing data.47
The code is part of a wider series of changes to local government transparency and
accountability over the past few years. Reforms also cover the abolition of the Audit
Commission in 2014, mandatory reporting of certain information to central government, as
well as innovations such as allowing the public to use social media in local council
meetings.48 The commitment’s progress was greatly helped by strong ministerial and
political interest and support.
Overall, the commitment requiring local authorities to publish key information and data can
be evaluated as complete.
Did it matter?
The commitment has moved forward the local government transparency agenda with a
series of regulatory changes and initiatives. They appear to be subject to extensive
consultation and were developed through engagement with a number of stakeholders.
Given the code’s breadth across all English local government, its exact implementation is
unclear. The research cited earlier found compliance with previous codes to be variable. Use
of the data by the public and other groups also appears uneven. A recent academic study
has found that there is interest across a broad range of groups, but use remains low
compared with other open data innovations or instruments like FOI.49 New innovations by
third parties are emerging that can help to create a suite of accessible online tools, making
the new data easy to use and combine.50 Challenges remain over local authority cultures,
skills, and, most importantly, the availability of resources at times of very severe spending
cuts, which are likely to last well into the next Parliament.
The potential impact of this commitment is moderate, pushing forward local government
openness that had begun in the first NAP.
46 See the consultation from 2013 at http://bit.ly/1bAe2xQ and the FAQ created from it at http://bit.ly/1IrDjeS
47 See the successive 2014 and 2015 codes at http://bit.ly/1wsQcfU; http://bit.ly/1o71KlK
48 See the Accountability and Audit Act 2014 at http://bit.ly/1bhZabi and the single data list at http://bit.ly/1cDQMjs
49 See the National Audit Office report on Transparency in 2012 at http://bit.ly/1bGoeJs and the Public Administration Committee
on Open Data at http://bit.ly/1JbNtOT and Worthy, Ben, David Cameron's Transparency Revolution? The Impact of Open Data in the
UK (29 November 2013). Available at SSRN: http://bit.ly/1OIJbWh
50 See Dane Wright’s site that analyses local government spending http://bit.ly/1Gz1MtZ, Chris Taggert’s site that combines
democratic and spending data at http://bit.ly/1OIJv7f, and the contract and spending finder spendnetwork at http://bit.ly/1EUtS88
45
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
Moving forward
●
●
●
●
There is a need for evidence on the compliance and level of resources available
within local authorities, as well as the barriers and opportunities for data use, as
already highlighted by the IRM researcher and a variety of stakeholders.
There is also the important question of how the new data link to tools for public
participation, given the emphasis of successive governments on encouraging
increased public involvement in local politics and proposals to give local
governments more power.
The 2012 LGA survey cited above also highlighted the need to understand examples
of grassroots data innovations and partnerships carried out by local authorities.
Given the importance of experiments to advance use and interest, these cases need
to be studied by academics or other external experts.
The IRM researcher believes there should also be greater clarity over the various
pathways for redress of problems with the data and the light touch regulatory
approach. Different paths may potentially be used if difficulties arise via, for
example, the individual authority monitoring officer, the local ombudsman, or, if a
query is turned into an FOI request, via the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Numerous potential avenues for enforcing the code exist, but some may be little
known or not obvious and need to be better understood.
46
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
4: Transparent Social Investment Market
By 2015, the UK aims to be the most transparent social investment market in the Open
Government Partnership and G20, in line with the Open Data Charter principles.
Supporting civil society organisations
Big Lottery Fund, Big Society Capital, City of London Bridges Trust, Social Enterprise UK
Impact and vision
[…] Greater transparency in social investment markets will help more social ventures to access
the capital they need and socially minded investors to deploy their funds to greatest effect.
Context
Social investment blends financial return and social impact. Both investors and the end
ventures they support need clarity on the financial and social return they are achieving.
Actions to increase this clarity will lead to greater transparency (across metrics of impact),
accountability (as more citizens can see the effectiveness of public services) and participation
(as more ventures can access public service contracts, and more citizens invest their money for
social impact).
As of 2013, Cabinet Office has:
●
●
●
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set up, under the UK’s Presidency of the G8, the first Social Impact Investment
Taskforce with the aim of bringing greater consistency across the international field
supported Inspiring Impact; this programme aims to make high quality impact
measurement the norm for charities and social enterprises by 2022
worked collaboratively with partners in the sector to create the UK’s first Social
Investment Readiness Charter, setting out five principles through which to support the
market
linked with leading sector organisations to establish the Market Stewardship Research
Group, which delivers an ongoing and publicly available research agenda
supported the creation of a Social Investment Trade Association , which, as part of its
work, will encourage social investment intermediaries
Timescales
We will be reporting on the international commitments by the end of 2014 through the Social
Impact Investment Taskforce. We will provide an annual update of progress on domestic
commitments, as part of HMG’s wider Social Investment Strategy, also in 2014.
Means
International commitments will be delivered by national governments who have volunteered
to achieve these standards, and overseen by an international taskforce comprising government
and private sector representatives from around the globe. Best practice will be shared by a
new Global Learning Exchange (in partnership with the World Economic Forum and Impact
47
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Investing Policy Collaborative). Domestic commitments will be delivered by the UK
government and key sector bodies, such as the Social Investment Forum.
Specificity
OGP value relevance
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Technolo
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Transpare
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Potential Impact
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Overall
4.1. Reporting on
international
commitments
4.2. Annual
update on
domestic
commitments
What happened?
Social investment is “finance offered to voluntary and community organizations with the
expectation of financial repayment.”51 This OGP commitment on social investment builds on
long-term UK interest in this area since before the second NAP. In June 2013, a G8-led
meeting emphasised the key role of social investment, and Prime Minister David Cameron
spoke of its importance. He announced a series of initiatives to assist in social investment,
including tax breaks and the creation of a social stock exchange.52
The previous reforms undertaken, as of 2013, included—
51 See a definition of social investment at http://bit.ly/1CC2w6m
52 See details and background at http://bit.ly/1xwNwAO and at http://bit.ly/1GzmYA8 and David Cameron’s comments
http://bit.ly/1GJd2H0
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● the creation of the Social Impact Investment Taskforce;
● development of a code of good impact practice;
● creating a social investment readiness charter, setting out five principles through
which to support the market;
● establishing the Market Stewardship Research Group; and
● helping to create a social investment trade association.53
In 2013, the UK government emphasized that, “transparency is a vital tool in delivering
social impact. Greater transparency…will help more social ventures get access to the capital
they need to grow.”54 It is hoped that this will open up the social investment market and
bring “greater transparency (across metrics of impact), accountability (as more citizens can
see the effectiveness of public services), and participation (as more ventures can access
public service contracts, and more citizens invest their money for social impact).”55
The social investment commitment was a follow-on from a series of programs and policies
that have been ongoing in the United Kingdom for a number of years. The milestones and
goals for this commitment fitted with this, offering a series of online reporting requirements
and updates on progress.56
The commitment created a number of informational innovations including publication of
data from 65 investments and the creation of a series of online visualizations via
data.gov.uk.57 There is also now a directory of social enterprise, which was re-launched in
February 2015. The inaugural Social Investment Awards, held in October 2014 as part of a
process of increasing public awareness and help for those involved, are intended to be
offered again in 2015.58
Overall, this commitment publishing key information and data on social investment can be
evaluated as complete.
Did it matter?
Although the commitment was a follow-on from work being done, and the milestones were
not always specfic, there have been some important steps forward in implementation. First,
in terms of data and sources of information on social investments, the commitment has led
to research by both the government and others and the creation of a growing evidence base
53 See the NAP commitment at 4 http://bit.ly/1EvxyKm
54 See the government document on social investment at http://bit.ly/1RwSDgR
55 See the NAP commitment at 4 http://bit.ly/1EvxyKm
56 See the report of the international social impact investment task force from 2014 at http://bit.ly/1HUP11a, information on
domestic policy at http://bit.ly/1KxDiFj, and the domestic report at http://bit.ly/1uAtunC
57 See the visualisation at http://bit.ly/JvuWnJ and the collected listing of information at http://bit.ly/1gllOOu
58 See the directory at http://bit.ly/1zUz0Tb and the mapping of the new market at http://bit.ly/1EUvCOV
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on the size and impact of the market.59 Second, there is now increased awareness of the
importance of social investment. Although it is not yet clear if they have met the high
transparency and participative goals set out in 2013, taken together, these measures have
increased the openness and awareness of social investment and have provided the tools to
encourage others to better understand it.
The potential impact of this commitment was evaluated as minor as it pushed forward
openness in a small, but growing, area.
Moving forward
●
●
●
The IRM researcher recommends that the developing evidence base should be
strengthened and expanded to allow those working in the area and those interested
to examine and analyse the data and policy area.
The data visualization experiments created in partnership with data.gov.uk should
be continued and augmented over time.
The IRM researcher also recommends that the sharing of skills and expertise gained
during this process should be expanded.
59 See details of the 2014 and 2015 awards at http://bit.ly/1w2Cm2U
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5: Manage and Capture Digital Records
The UK government will manage and capture digital records and there will be a
comprehensive, accessible and timely paper and digital record of UK government available to
the citizen.
Supporting civil society organisations
The International Records Management Trust
Impact and vision
Citizens will have access to the records of UK government earlier and delivered in ways that
make them more accessible and more usable than they have ever before.
Context
[…] The UK government needs to define clearly what records departments need to keep in the
digital era, both in paper and digital format, and to enable them to do this efficiently and
effectively. This will help to ensure that information is available and survives for scrutiny both
now and in the future.
The UK government is working with archives across the public sector to help ensure that this
potential is realised at both local and national levels.
On 1 January 2013, the period by which records selected for permanent preservation should be
transferred to The National Archives and specialist places of deposit was reduced from 30 to
20 years. The change to a ‘20 year rule’ is being implemented over a ten-year transition period
that will enable departments to transfer two years worth of records to The National Archives
every year until 2023. This is estimated to have effected [sic] over three million government
records. […]
Timescales
The key milestones for the delivery of this commitment are:
●
●
●
by April 2014, The National Archives will deliver a fully operational mechanism for the
accessioning and preservation of digital records - the Digital Records Infrastructure
(DRI)
by April 2015, The National Archives will have an efficient, scalable and sustainable
process for the transfer of digital records to the DRI supported by publicly available
guidance on its website and training for transferring departments
by 2023, the transition to the 20 year rule will be complete; departmental compliance
in transferring records to The National Archives under the Public Records Act is
measured in its bi-annual Records Transfer Report, which details statistics on the
status of departments’ progress
Means
51
Embargoed – not for quotation or citation
The government will define and deliver an efficient, scalable and sustainable process for the
transfer of its digital records into the DRI. The National Archives has resourced a Digital
Transfer Project within its operational transfer teams, supported by their counterparts within
transferring government departments. […]
[…] By the end of 2013, [the government, through The National Archives], will publish a set of
business requirements to support the management of digital information and will refresh its
retention and disposal guidance by the middle of 2014. […]
The government will invest in creating innovative solutions to the preservation challenges
involved in capturing the government web estate and keeping information published online
findable in the future. A social media archive will be launched in Autumn 2013, with a focus on
Twitter and YouTube.
Specificity
OGP value relevance
No
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Publ
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Technolo
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Innovatio
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Transpare
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Accounta
bility
Potential Impact
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Completion
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Overall
5.1. Digital
Records
Infrastructure
(DRI)
5.2. Digital
records transfer
process
5.3. 20-year rule
by 2030
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Editorial note: Under the old criteria of starred commitments, this commitment would have received
a star because it is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has moderate potential impact, and has
been substantially or completely implemented (note that IRM updated the star criteria in early
2015).
What happened?
This commitment builds on a longer-term aim of The National Archives (TNA) relating to
the preservation of physical and digital records. This includes reducing down to 20 years
the rule that currently keeps access to documents subject to FOI exemptions closed for 30
years, identifying important records for preservation, and creating new mechanisms for
analogue and digital management.60 The change from 30 to 20 years officially began on 1
January 2013, the beginning of a 10-year transition period that finishes in 2023.61 The
transition will deal with more than 3 million documents. TNA has also been publishing
information under the new 20-year rule earlier where possible.
TNA is also moving towards a new system for preservation of digital records through the
DRI. The digital transfer project remains on track but is undergoing conceptual testing and
refinement. According to their own self-assessment, the DRI has now been in place since
April 2014. TNA, at the time of writing, is running a series of pilots due to be completed by
December 2015.
One key challenge has been around sensitivity review. TNA is currently testing software to
see how this could be used to help government with this issue. Other challenges include
government department’s use of different information formats and systems and variety of
digital records management procedures.
A recent review by Alex Allan in 2014 emphasized how government departments are
responsible “for the management, safe-keeping and destruction of their records and for the
review and selection of records for permanent preservation and their eventual transfer to
the TNA.”62 TNA provides advice and guidance throughout this process. The review found
variable amounts of progress in digital continuity across various departments and
expressed concern at potential delays and problems.
Overall, the level of completion of this commitment is substantial. While the level of
completion varied across the individual milestones that make up this commitment (with
one milestone being only substantially complete), for the most part the government has
advanced significantly in its commitment to manage and capture digital records.
Did it matter?
The commitment is ongoing. The TNA has done well in pushing forward this important area
as part of a wider, ambitious project that is due to finish in 2023. Although some parts of the
60 See the National Action Plan Commitment at 5 http://bit.ly/1I152El
61 See the National Action Plan Commitment at 5 http://bit.ly/1EvxyKm
62 See the Alex Allen Review of 2014, especially page 7-8 and the annex, at http://bit.ly/1zurkLQ
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project were behind schedule at certain points, the commitment has involved dealing with
several complex but vitally important areas for records preservation and curation in the
digital age. The tackling of a digital transfer is likely to be an important step. Stakeholders
felt pleased with the strength of the commitment and consultation process.
The potential impact of this commitment is moderate as it further develops a number of
ideas under way at the TNA.
Moving forward
●
●
●
●
The TNA itself emphasized how it wished to understand more about what users
want and what it should make available, and this could be done via surveys or more
detailed focus group research. This is something the researcher would encourage.
The preservation of records is bound up in the wider program that concludes in
2023. The 2014 cross government record review by Alex Allan found varying
approaches across government departments and, despite superficial compliance,
raised concerns about management, as a number of departments have large
backlogs and are falling behind the 2023 timetable. The 2014 review touched on
elements of digital record keeping. This led to the commissioning of a further review
focusing on digital record keeping, which was due to be completed in the summer of
2015. The findings from these reviews could potentially be a focus for future
commitments.
The IRM researcher would emphasize the importance of records preservation and
management for the wider open data agenda. Future plans should ensure that the
issue remains a central part—particularly awareness of problems raised by hybrid
and digital records.
The IRM researcher also suggests that there could be stronger links amongst the
different commitments relating to records and TNA, as numerous commitments
touched upon them.
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6: Cross-Government Anti-Corruption Plan
The UK government will, for the first time, bring together all of the UK’s anti-corruption efforts
under one cross-government anti-corruption plan.
Supporting civil society organisations
BOND Anti-Corruption Group: Article 19, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Corruption Watch, Global
Witness, Integrity Action, ONE, Public Concern at Work, Tearfund, The Corner House,
Transparency International UK
Vision and impact
Our vision is to have a robust, cross-government anti-corruption plan that will bring much
more coordination and coherence to the work that is going on, from preventing corruption
taking place in the first instance to taking effective enforcement action when it does.
Context
[…] Over recent years, the UK has taken a number of steps to deal with corruption and we have
good structures and legislation already in place […]
[…] the UK government will for the first time bring together all of the UK’s anti-corruption
efforts under one cross-government anti-corruption plan. The plan will bring greater
coordination and effectiveness to the UK’s efforts to tackle corruption both domestically and
internationally, across government and its agencies, and with civil society business and
international institutions. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society
organisations (CSOs) will be consulted for their views on the content of the plan.
The plan will include a range of measures that the UK will take to prevent corruption and
enforce relevant legislation. For example, once refreshed EU rules are in place - whereby we
are already required to exclude suppliers for bribery and corruption - we will reconsider:
●
●
●
the potential benefits and disadvantages of a register of excluded suppliers
implementing and enforcing the UK Bribery Act by resourcing enforcement agencies
and ensuring effective reporting processes
tackling money laundering through international collaboration
[…] The Home Office will provide the coordination function across government which will
report jointly to the Home Secretary and the government’s Anti-Corruption Champion.
[…]
Means
The development and content of the plan is still for departments to agree. The Home Office will
work with the Cabinet Office, other government departments, and CSOs to take forward this
work.
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Specificity
OGP value relevance
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6. Cross-
government anticorruption plan
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✔
Editorial note: This commitment is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has transformative
potential impact, and is substantially or completely implemented and therefore qualifies as a starred
commitment.
What happened
This commitment builds on a series of initiatives carried out from 2010 onwards, as a
further step in a long line of international and national measures intended to fight
corruption. Previous steps taken have also included legislation, with the Bribery Act (2010),
the creation of deferred prosecution agreements, and a series of institutions and strategies,
including the appointment of new government anti-corruption champions and the creation
of the new National Crime Agency and a UK asset recovery task force. In 2013, national and
international discussion during the United Kingdom’s presidency of the G8 focused on tax
transparency and anti-corruption.63 The government initiated a new serious and organised
crime strategy but recognised the need for a new cross-cutting approach in this area.
The commitment was intended to create a strategic plan to bring co-ordination and
coherence across government. The intent was not to set out new policies but to harmonize
and co-ordinate existing plans and to introduce strategic direction. There was no strict
timescale within the plan itself (though there was for publication), and it was viewed as an
63 See page 6 and 7 of the 201 G8 leaders Communique on tax evasion and corruption at http://bit.ly/1Isoett; http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
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iterative process and a first step, a combination of narrative and actions. The plan had
cross-party support and was helped by the work of the All Parliamentary Group on AntiCorruption.64
The UK anti-corruption plan was published on 18 December 2014, slightly behind the
original schedule of June 2014.65 It contained 66 separate actions covering a range of
national and international areas from lobbying to money laundering. In addition to a series
of steps towards implementing the plan, including creating an inter-ministerial body and an
anti-corruption champion, the January 2015 self-assessment also committed to continuing
to work with CSOs and to use the ministerial group to oversee progress.66 The plan
highlighted the importance of openness and data in fighting corruption in numerous
areas.67
A coalition of CSOs, the BOND Anti-Corruption Group, saw the plan as a major step forward
in UK efforts to combat corruption at home and abroad. However, the coalition highlighted
several major blind spots in the plan, including whether the strategy will be subject to a
formal, transparent review process and the existence of loopholes in the actions proposed.68
Did it matter?
The commitment is undoubtedly a significant strategic step forward in tackling corruption
nationally and internationally, with a comprehensive series of suggestions stretching from
government to Parliament and private companies.
The BOND group and Transparency International welcomed the plan as ground-breaking in
its attempt at defining and setting out strategic direction, as well as framing and
contextualizing corruption. The plan was seen as wide-ranging, joined-up, and inclusive.
There were some concerns. The delay in publication between June and December 2014
meant the report was launched on the last day of Parliament before Christmas, and some
CSOs saw this as evidence of a lack of political will. The report also contained some mixed
messages and may have been undermined by turf wars amongst departments. It was, one
CSO argued, in places “imprecise and patchy” and did not deal with some areas in sufficient
depth, such as corruption in the private sector.69
64 See the APPG at http://bit.ly/1EvFHOW
65 See the UK anti-corruption plan at http://bit.ly/1tTrBoX
66 See the ministerial statement appointing him at http://bit.ly/1qjIWjg
67 See the research on data at http://bit.ly/1EUw6od and at http://bit.ly/1GKNGLE
68 See the response by CSOs at http://bit.ly/1dxwrkz
69 The response of BOND can be read at http://bit.ly/1EGe07p and Transparency International at http://bit.ly/1zh2lv7
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As it draws together pre-existing ideas and approaches but offers strategic direction, the
potential impact of this commitment is transformative.
Moving forward
●
●
●
One of the key concerns of BOND/TI was the need for lines of accountability and
issues of sustainability within the process. The delay in publishing the report raised
concerns that the commitment lacked support. Renewed interest could be reflected
in various ways.
The IRM researcher recommends a form of scrutiny via the legislature, perhaps
through a parliamentary select committee at a predetermined point—for example,
after one year or at the time of the annual report by the anti-corruption champion.
Given the breadth of the 66 actions, there may be a case for thinking carefully about
the presentation of progress via a public data visibility portal of the kind
experimented with on data.gov.uk.
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7: Company Beneficial Ownership Information
The UK government will lead by example by creating a publicly accessible central registry of
company beneficial ownership information. The registry will contain information about who
ultimately owns and controls UK companies.
Supporting civil society organisations
CAFOD, Christian Aid, Global Witness, ONE, Open Knowledge Foundation, OpenCorporates,
Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, Transparency International UK
Vision and impact
A lack of knowledge about who ultimately controls, owns and profits from companies and legal
arrangements facilitates their misuse for illicit purposes including tax evasion, money
laundering, corruption and bribery.
[…] the UK has committed to place a requirement on companies to obtain and hold adequate,
accurate and current information on their beneficial ownership - defined as the natural
person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a legal person or arrangement.
Company beneficial ownership information will be held in a central registry maintained by
Companies House. […], the UK has committed to making information on individuals with
significant interests in UK companies accessible publicly via Companies House, potentially
using as a model the type of information already in the public domain on company
shareholders.
[…]
Through the UK’s G8 action plan on beneficial ownership, the UK is taking forward a number
of other commitments. We are currently undertaking the UK’s first ever national risk
assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing threat to be completed in 2014. We
will also take forward work in the context of the national risk assessment to assess the money
laundering and terrorist financing risk posed by trusts, and through the Fourth EU Money
Laundering Directive we will seek to ensure that trustees of express trusts are obliged to
obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current information on beneficial ownership
regarding the trust.
Context
A lack of transparency of company ownership and control favours those looking to hide their
identity and launder illicit proceeds through international financial systems. In the UK,
investigations are frequently frustrated by the inability of law enforcement to identify the true
owner of a company being used to hide or conceal criminal activity, particularly where this
information is held offshore by companies incorporated outside the UK. […]
Companies are already required to know and provide information on their beneficial
ownership when, for example, they seek to establish a bank account. […] However, financial
institutions often cite the customer due diligence requirements as one of the most costly and
difficult requirements to fulfil as they are heavily reliant on the information provided by the
company. An explicit requirement on companies to obtain and hold information on their
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beneficial owners could make it easier for financial institutions and others to carry out this
due diligence.
By requiring UK companies to provide this information to a central registry, there could be
additional benefits for tax authorities and law enforcement agencies in terms of more efficient
investigations into company ownership and control. […]
Timescales
The government discussion paper relating to these commitments has informed this Action
Plan. Implementation will now be taken forward through amendments to company law, led by
the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and through: transposition of the Fourth
EU Money Laundering Directive, which is currently being negotiated; amendments to the UK
Money Laundering Regulations; and other relevant bilateral and multilateral agreements led
by HM Treasury.
Specificity
OGP value relevance
No
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7. Company
beneficial
ownership
information
Editorial note: This commitment is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has transformative
potential impact, and is substantially or completely implemented and therefore qualifies as a starred
commitment.
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What happened?
Beneficial ownership is a legal term referring to anyone who has property rights and who
exercises ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement, yet does not
nominally own the asset itself. The creation of a publicly accessible central registry of
company beneficial ownership information stemmed from a series of international
commitments on money laundering at the G8. World leaders, under the UK chair, committed
to increasing action on laundering, although the commitment has a series of other purposes,
from helping stop tax avoidance to fighting terrorism and alleviating poverty. The ability to
create a register of company ownership, detailing who owns or has a sizable interest
(labelled ”controlling” or “person with significant control,” or PSC) , is a central part of
fighting corruption or tracing numerous activities. It has been influenced by new datadriven innovations, particularly the Open Corporates site.70
The commitment was linked to a number of EU-wide and G8 agreements, as well as work
with individual countries across the world on corporate transparency and tax evasion. In
June 2013, an important step was made when the G8 agreed to principles on beneficial
ownership openness at the Lough Erne summit under David Cameron’s chairmanship.71
David Cameron made the commitment the centrepiece of the UK's second NAP during a
speech to the Open Government Partnership summit in London in October 2013.72 He
argued that it is important to know who owns and controls companies, not only legally but
also in terms of who benefits financially from their existence.73 Given its cross-cutting
nature, the policy is divided between Her Majesty's Treasury and the Department for
Business, Innovations and Skills (BIS).
Nationally, the publicly accessible register was consulted on in 2013. It was taken forward
in primary legislation as part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill that
became law in late March 2015. The intention, according to the provisional implementation
plan, is to then have a publicly accessible register up and running by April 2016 following
secondary legislation. A BIS-led working group was created, and a draft set regulations for
PSCs drawn up in January 2015.74
Internationally, the commitment has involved discussion and work around implementing
the EU Fourth Money Laundering Directive, as well as a series of bilateral and multi-lateral
negotiations via the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group. These negotiations led to an
70 See the Open Corporates application at at http://bit.ly/1IssoSm and an explanation by its designer on why Benefical Ownership is
important at http://bit.ly/1zh65Nf
71 See the 2013 G8 Lough Erne communique at http://bit.ly/1Isoett; see also http://bit.ly/1EUwovh and his OGP speech at
http://bit.ly/1Q3qc5V
72 See David Cameron’s 2013 speech at the OGP Summit at http://bit.ly/1Q3qc5V
73 See David Cameron’s 2013 speech at the OGP Summit at http://bit.ly/1Q3qc5V
74 As of this writing, the bill is at the report stage of the House of Lords (3/3/2015) http://bit.ly/1ivHb4y
See this discussion paper from the 2013-2014 consultation at http://bit.ly/1nD5QSo, the proviosional implementation plan at
http://bit.ly/187XbW1, and the register at http://bit.ly/1GJogv4
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agreed set of international beneficial ownership principles at Brisbane in November 2014
and strategic document looking ahead to 2015-2016, which includes concrete action on
ownership and other issues recommended by Financial Action Task Force.75
At the EU level, the Fourth Money Laundering Directive was agreed upon following a
trialogue (an informal meeting between the European Parliament, the council, and the
commission) in October 2014. In December 2014, the European Parliament and Council
reached political agreement on it, specifying that—
The ultimate owners of companies would have to be listed in central registers in EU
countries, accessible to people with a "legitimate interest," such as investigative
journalists and other concerned citizens.76
This is somewhat less than the UK’s own legal provisions and was a disappointment to
campaigners across the EU. The directive is now heading for formal adoption; as soon as
this is done, at some point in early 2015, it will be implemented in the UK. 77
As a side note, David Cameron was keen to push the policy with Crown Dependencies and
Overseas territories linked to the UK, including the Cayman Island, Bermuda, Jersey, and
Guernsey. In a letter of April 2014, he urged them to consider registers of beneficial
ownership although campaigners were not hopeful.78 In February 2015, this briefly became
an election issue when the then opposition leader Ed Miliband committed a future Labour
government to blacklisting any overseas territories that refused to publish a register.79
Did it matter?
The commitment has been substantial so far. Some legislative and policy work remains
ongoing until the register and other parts are up and running between 2015 and 2016.
However, given the potential obstacles, the policy has so far met its ambitious aims and is
one of the central achievements of the UK NAP. A publicly accessible register of beneficial
ownership, especially if combined with a (partially open) EU register, would be a powerful
move forward in opening up the private sector. These are next steps and part of a long-term
process, including international negotiations and continued implementation across several
forums, including the G8, G13, and EU.
This commitment is complex, with different national and international commitments
involving many hundreds of thousands of UK companies. The process also requires detailed
co-ordination with a series of interested parties, including government departments and
75 See some background on the G20 at http://bit.ly/1EUwqmX
76 See the press release on the agreement at http://bit.ly/1J1dDp2 and on the compromise at EU level at http://bit.ly/1wB61UZ
77 See the press release on the agreement at http://bit.ly/1J1dDp2 and on the compromise at EU level at http://bit.ly/1wB61UZ
78 The Prime Minister’s letter at http://bit.ly/1GKQbgT and further information at http://bit.ly/1Q3pCVL See the beneficial
ownership scorecard from Christian Aid at http://bit.ly/1KxLmWB
79 See the letter at http://bit.ly/1I1c8si
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outside bodies such as law enforcement. This also involves discussions between groups
with very different interests, particularly between businesses and CSOs.
So far, stakeholders and CSOs widely welcomed the achievements as an important step.
Given the complexity, CSOs were said to have played a key role in moving the process
forward. The personal involvement and commitment of the Prime Minister also helped push
the policy forward and prioritize space in the legislative timetable. BIS was widely praised
for its open and consultative way of working.
Stakeholders and experts have warned of the need for continued innovation and
development. Areas such as real estate may present particular problems. Experts have
argued that the new data need to be matched and linked to be truly effective, as Chris
Taggart of Open Corporates explained:
…this register is going to be transformative in the fight against money laundering,
fraud, and other criminal activity. But much of this will only be revealed when the
beneficial ownership data is combined with other datasets, including government
procurement, licenses, environmental citations, and other public data.80
This commitment opens up companies both in the UK and [potentially] internationally with
numerous far-reaching effects and uses. This commitment is consequently seen to be
transformative.
Moving forward
●
●
As both the government and stakeholders have pointed out, the policy and
implementation are untested, as the few registers that exist around the world are in
relatively small countries. Given its newness and uniqueness in the UK, there is a
strong need for robust evidence and analysis of both implementation and
compliance with the register and the exact effects, use, and consequences of having
a publicly accessible register. This could include post-legislative scrutiny by a
parliamentary select committee or international group of academics and experts.
The register will be available in April 2016. There is a consensus amongst all
involved that a review of its operation and use will be of great interest, given the
lack of precedent on which to draw. The beneficial ownership register has a threeyear review built into it, and such analysis should form part of any future action
plan. However, given the register’s high profile, the IRM researcher would
recommend analysis before then. Transparency International has highlighted the
need for monitoring to ensure that data are regularly published and that any legal or
administrative loopholes are closed. Attention should also be paid to new
innovations to facilitate use, such as the new (prototype) site Who Controls It, which
allows searching of the register and linking with other data.81The register requires
80 There may also be potential side effects and difficulties in particular areas. See this blog on real estate at http://bit.ly/1EGgYZz
and this article by Open Corporate designer, Chris Taggart, at http://bit.ly/1zh65Nf
81 See the alpha site at http://bit.ly/1bGP4kK and this briefing from Transparency International at http://bit.ly/1DF4k7U
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the co-operation of countries across the world to work effectively, so there is a need
for continued movement at international level.
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8: Access to Police Records
The UK government will establish by 1 January 2014, a high-level working group to ensure
greater transparency and accessibility of police records in England and Wales. The group will
explore the range of options for achieving this, including bringing police force records under
legislative control, by adding police forces to the Public Records Act 1958, alongside other
options that may not require legislation. The working group will report with a clear proposal
and Action Plan by 30 June 2014.
Supporting civil society organisations
The International Records Management Trust
Vision and impact
If police records were brought into the public records system, police bodies would be required
to review their records and transfer those selected for permanent preservation to a place of
deposit by the time that they are 30 years old (reducing to 20 years over the next decade), in
order to ensure their long-term preservation and public accessibility. It would still be possible
for police bodies to retain records such as scene of crime evidence for a further period if they
could demonstrate the records were needed for current and future work.
The working group will determine the potential benefits and whether it recommends to
ministers implementation of the recommendation made by the Hillsborough Independent
Panel. The decision ultimately rests with ministers.
Timescales
The working group will report by 30 June 2014. If it supports the recommendation then it will
propose a resourcing and implementation plan to ministers for consideration.
Means
If ministers agree, pending appropriate resourcing, police forces in England and Wales would
assess records in accordance with a retention and disposal policy and schedule developed with
guidance from The National Archives. Suitable places of deposit would be identified for police
forces where records can be deposited and viewed by the public, at the appropriate time.
Specificity
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Potential Impact
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c
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Overall
✔
8.1. Working
group established
8.2. Working
group reports
What happened?
The commitment involves bringing police records in line with the Public Records Act 1958
that sets out the process for record access and preservation in England and Wales. The
proposals stemmed from the Hillsborough Independent Panel of 2012 that reported on the
football disaster of 1989 after a long campaign for justice and access to records by the
families of victims.82 The panel recommended that police records closure periods on certain
documents exempted under FOI be reduced to 20 years.83 More specifically, the panel
suggested that “police force records are brought under legislative control and that police
forces are added to Part II of the First Schedule to the Public Records Act 1958, thereby
making them subject to the supervision of the Keeper of Public Records.”84 Only the
Metropolitan Police Service [the London police] is currently subject to such record keeping
requirements, due to its previous legal responsibility via the Home Secretary and now the
Mayor of London. This requirement continues through a memorandum of understanding
with TNA. The other 42 police forces across England and Wales are not subject to any such
record requirements.85 The government has suggested that there may be other options to
achieve the objective that do not require legislation.
The original commitment date of 30 June 2014 was not feasible. The original working
groups consisted of many parties, including representatives of the Association of Chief
Police Officers, 42 individual police forces, the Ministry of Justice, TNA, the National Crime
Agency, and the College of Policing. There was also a need to work alongside the Scottish
82 See the Review website at http://bit.ly/1kvIyhi and background on the Public Records Act 1958 at http://bit.ly/1KxOKAN
83 See the review at http://bit.ly/1kvIyhi
84 See the National Action Plan at http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
85 See the National Archives of Police Records at http://bit.ly/NmJfgk
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Police (as Scotland brought its own police force under its records legislation in 2013) and
the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The original large working group was subsequently
turned into a smaller sub-group of TNA officials, archivists, and practitioners.86
A number of difficulties emerged. Police records are currently not designed around public
access but around retention/destruction regulations via management of police information
rules.87 This lack of consistent practice means that the 42 police authorities store
information in a variety of different ways with a mix of paper, digital, or microfiche systems.
The records also go back many years, in some cases back to the 1840s, raising problems of
digitization, storage, quality, and location, as well as costs and resources.
According to the 2015 government mid-term self-assessment, discussion thus centred on
establishing a baseline, deciding whether, for example, changes could match the 20-30 year
Public Records Act changes (see commitment 5), and determining how retrospective any
change should be. There was also concern over how to deal with sensitive or dangerous
information, from, for example, the Northern Ireland conflict and police informers or
murder cases. The working group held a series of four meetings with a final draft document
presented in January 2015. The self-assessments committed to offering proposals by the
end of March 2015 but had not done so at the time of writing this report.
In terms of public interest, the issue of police records cuts across other controversial areas:
not only the ongoing Hillsborough revelations but also concern over the operations of
previously secret undercover surveillance teams between the 1970s and the present day. In
March 2015, it emerged that a number of MPs had been subject to undercover monitoring in
the 1990s, and the government has now ordered a judge-led inquiry into the general issue
of undercover police surveillance.88
Overall, the level of completion of this commitment is limited. While the milestone of
establishing a working group was completed, the actual decision on what is to be done with
records had not taken place at the time of writing.
Did it matter?
Given that the working group has yet to report, any assessment is difficult to make. The
process has demonstrated the practical difficulties raised by these proposed changes. It has
proved harder than anticipated to offer a clear set of agreed proposals.
Opening police records is an important step forwards in transparency, with a strong public
interest following the Hillsborough revelations, as well as other controversies. The
discussion itself appears to have been productive and welcomed by stakeholders as a
valuable process.
86 For details about Scotland’s reforms in 2013, see http://bit.ly/1JV5KAe and http://bit.ly/1JV5NvL
87 See the official guidance at http://bit.ly/1GJsOl8
88 See the details of MP surveillance in the 1990s at http://bbc.in/1Ngxpwa and the announcement of the new inquiry, stemming
from the Ellison Review into a particularly controversial case, at http://bit.ly/1GJsSBb
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The potential impact of this commitment is moderate in extending the openness of records
to a new, if important and high profile, sector of the state.
Moving forward
●
●
The IRM researcher believes there is a need for continued movement in this area
and discussion, given the issues it raises. This could be reflected in the ongoing
inquiries. There is a need to carefully analyse the outcome of the working group
report and use the findings for further steps.
Stakeholders and the government seemed to think the process was positive. The
effective consultation and working processes should be continued, given their
success and the often complex and sensitive issues this area raises.
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9: Transparency in Construction
The UK government will promote the principles of transparency and accountability in all
government-funded construction projects in the domestic and international arenas, including,
in the period up until 2015:
●
●
working with others in government and civil society to identify suitable projects for the
application of the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) in the UK
using its bilateral and multilateral relationships to encourage the establishment of at
least four new national CoST programmes in countries where DFID is working
Supporting civil society organisations
CoST, Engineers Against Poverty, Institution of Civil Engineers, Integrity Action, Transparency
International UK
Impact and vision
Promoting transparency and accountability in infrastructure will achieve impact in four
interrelated areas:
●
●
●
●
[…]
reductions in corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency
creating a business environment in which contracts are awarded solely on the basis of
price and quality
better value for money invested in infrastructure
better quality infrastructure and services
Context
[…] DFID funded a three year CoST pilot project from 2008 to 2011. Since then CoST has been
established as an independent legal entity and is taking the programme forward with support
from the World Bank. CoST is an example of how these benefits can be realised. […]DFID
continues to provide direct support to countries participating in CoST. […]
Timescales
The key milestones for this commitment are:
●
●
apply CoST disclosure requirements on additional projects in the UK by 2015
use government’s bilateral and multilateral relationships to encourage the
establishment of at least four new national CoST programmes by 2015 in countries
where DFID is working
Means
The mechanism that will be used to measure progress is the CoST Monitoring and Evaluation
framework, the results of which will be subject to independent review. […]
Government, including Infrastructure UK in the domestic arena and DFID in the global arena,
in partnership with non-governmental actors, will be drivers of promoting transparency and
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accountability in construction. CoST will lead multi-country efforts to promote multistakeholder programmes to improve value for money in construction.
Specificity
OGP value relevance
No
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M
N
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Transpare
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bility
Potential Impact
N
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Overall
9.1. CoST
disclosure UK
9.2. CoST
disclosure
elsewhere
What happened?
This commitment builds on a series of trials with CoST from 2008 onwards. The milestones
were split into two parts: one covering disclosure in the UK and one elsewhere. The lead
department, DFID, has been collaborating with the World Bank and other bodies and
working on CoST projects with a number of other countries, including Guatemala and
Vietnam.89
The Prime Minister gave explicit support to ongoing extension of CoST in his letter to other
G8 leaders in early 2013. He spoke of how openness could be used in the developing world
to—
89 See commitment 9 of the National Action Plan at http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8; information about the CoST organisation and principles is
at http://bit.ly/1zhhjkS
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…support the underlying building blocks of growth…what I have called the “golden
thread” that makes open economies and open societies the best foundation for
growth… including through the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative and
new ideas like a global land transparency partnership.90
The UK had already been involved with a series of eight pilots as part of an international
study by CoST looking at the principles and guidelines used.91
The commitment has both domestic and international angles. The commitment was seen as
a modest target needing few resources, with the added advantage that CoST itself has a preexisting network. It was chosen as a target that could be well framed although it was not
clear where the commitment came from.
The government’s mid-term self-assessment explains that domestically the government has
not “been in a position to actively promote CoST on any specific projects but, through the
UK’s infrastructure cost review work, we continually reference our support for the CoST
initiative.”92 Consultation with a number of officials and stakeholders indicated that this
would be the most appropriate way forward.
Internationally, although construction was not the highest issue on DFID’s open
government agenda, it is growing in importance. There has been progress in building
partnerships with Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. The UK Foreign Office has also
provided advice to Guatemala and El Salvador. However, in the latter cases, the
governments had little operational reach, so these partnerships were dealt with by CoST
exclusively.
Overall, the commitment to promote transparency and accountability in governmentfunded construction projects had a limited level of completion.
Did it matter?
Assessing the status and implementation of this commitment is difficult. It is spread across
departments and bodies and, in some places, is reliant on the CoST secretariat rather than
the government.
Domestically, there appears to have been much less progress than hoped, but alternative
means are being used. Internationally, the work is long term and reliant on other bodies and
networks in an area where it can be difficult to gain policy traction. Although construction is
a key area for corruption and mismanagement, it is also one that by its nature is opaque.
Nevertheless, the development of inter-country partnerships appears to have moved
forward. Stakeholders identified this commitment as an area that needed more coordination and involvement from CSOs during the process of development and commitment
implementation.
90 See Prime Minister Cameron’s 2013 letter to G8 leaders at http://bit.ly/1EUwovh
91 See some background on these pilots at http://bit.ly/1EUwXVJ and a final analysis at http://bit.ly/1EUwXVL
92 See the latest 2014 Infrastructure Cost Review at http://bit.ly/1GJxzLk
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The potential impact of this commitment is moderate as it covers an important area in the
developing world, albeit one where it is difficult to co-ordinate or monitor results and
outcomes.
Moving forward
●
The IRM researcher believes that this agenda should be pushed forward as
construction is a key site of corruption and a vital part of development. There is a
need to raise awareness of CoST, possibly by linking it to other initiatives and
reforms relating more generally to international aid (also run by DFID).
●
Both stakeholders and the government agreed that there may also be a need for
evidence of CoST’s effects, both domestically and internationally, to assist with
future development.
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10: Legislative Openness
The UK government will:
●
●
●
promptly publish all new primary and secondary legislation on legislation.gov.uk
bring the revised versions of primary legislation on legislation.gov.uk up to date by the
end of 2015 and keep them up to date subsequently
make legislative data available in an open and accessible format to allow people to reuse content under terms of the UK’s Open Government Licence
Supporting civil society organisations
Involve, The Democratic Society
Impact and vision
The volume and piecemeal structure of the statute book make it difficult for users to find and
use legislation. To make the entire collection of UK legislation available free of charge on a
user-friendly platform such as legislation.gov.uk enables lawyers and ordinary citizens alike to
identify and scrutinise the laws on which their legal rights and responsibilities are based.
[…]
Context
[…] In 2010, The National Archives launched legislation.gov.uk, the first service of its kind in
the world. The creation of legislation.gov.uk integrated two distinct and very different sets of
data from the previous statutelaw.gov.uk and opsi.gov.uk services. It involved the migration of
thousands of documents, while ensuring that their accuracy and integrity was preserved.
Legislation was also one of the first government websites to be underpinned by an API, giving
people access to the underlying data and promoting its re-use.
While the service provides the text of legislation (including legislation passed by the devolved
governments of the UK) dating back to 1267, it does not yet take account of every ‘effect’ - the
changes (since 2002) made by one piece of legislation to another. Since the launch, The
National Archives has been working to ensure that the service is brought fully up to date, by
applying thousands of effects. […]
Timescales
The UK government has set the goal of applying all outstanding legislative effects by the end of
2015. Metrics for the timely release of information against the various legislation are already
set and year on year progress can be measured through collection and amalgamating the
relevant data sources. Progress towards this is monitored as one of The National Archives’ key
performance indicators and reported on in its annual report to Parliament.
Means
The UK government will, with support from The National Archives, ensure that best practice is
identified, understood and applied appropriately by government. It will identify or create
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standards to deliver this commitment through process and technology. The major mechanism
for achieving this goal is The National Archives’ Expert Participation Programme. […]
Specificity
OGP value relevance
No
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Technolo
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Transpare
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Accounta
bility
Potential Impact
N
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Completion
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10. Legislative
openness
Editorial note: under the old criteria of starred commitments, this commitment would have received
a star because it is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has moderate potential impact, and has
been substantially or completely implemented (note that IRM updated the star criteria in early
2015).
What happened?
This initiative builds on TNA’s work since 2010 to update legislation. In 2010, TNA created
legislation.gov.uk, the first service of its kind in the world that would cater to some of the
very different users of the site that include lawyers, teachers, police officers, and
researchers of various kinds.93 However, TNA has yet to complete all the effects (i.e., the
additional amendments or changes due to new or devolved legislation). As the FAQs
explains:
All legislation held on legislation.gov.uk in revised form has been updated with
effects of legislation made up to 2002 (except for some effects of 2002 legislation
that were not yet in force at the end of 2002). About half of all items of legislation
93 See commitment 10 of the second UK National Action Plan at http://bit.ly/1biY5zV More information about users can be found at
Tullo, C. (2011). Online access to UK legislation: Strategy and structure. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications 236: From
Information to Knowledge, 21-32.
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are also up to date to the present. For the remainder, there are still effects
outstanding for at least one of the years 2003 to the current year.94
As of 2013 when the commitment began, there “were less than 129,000 outstanding effects
still to be applied to legislation.gov.uk.”95
The twofold approach of publishing new legislation and amending older work had very
different degrees of difficulty. While publishing new legislation was relatively simple, the
key problem came with revising older legislation. This involved mapping out a large
number of linked amendments, finding out the extent of changes, identifying the point in
time of revisions, and tracing the potential knock-on effects on other legislation.
One example given was the complexity of commencement orders, the instruction in
legislation that outlines when the particular law takes effect. These are often staged so that
different parts of the law take effect at different times and are now made more problematic
by the fact that the devolved bodies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland can, and
sometimes do, commence legislation at different times. The 2012 Health and Social Care Act
contained 40 different commencements for different dates.96
The original approach envisioned by the commitment would be to trace changes via each
document. However, TNA decided that a more iterative rising tide approach, where
amendments, not documents, would be the basis for mapping, would be a better way
forward. A hackathon in November 2014 helped design new interfaces and develop this
new approach. Work on the amendments increased alongside the development of new
experiments, such as key word searches.97 The self-assessment reported a volunteer week
for updating –held in December 2014 –that involved a number of important groups,
including the Parliamentary counsel that drafts legislation in the legislature. As part of the
week, the First Parliamentary Counsel personally updated a key piece of UK legislation, the
Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2011.98
By January 2015, this new approach had created a systematic solution to the problem. The
next three to four months will be crucial in using the new system and pushing ahead as well
as developing new applications.99
Did it matter?
The commitment looks set to be met by the deadline of 2015. It will be an important step in
record preservation and management. While the change is part of a wider shift, amending
94 See http://bit.ly/1zuTgzo
95 See commitment 10 of the second UK National Action Plan at http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
96 The Health and Social Care Act 2012 can be seen at http://bit.ly/1dCgQbZ and an example of a commencement order at
http://bit.ly/1DZtte6
97 Information about the hackathon is at http://bit.ly/1QPMxFi
98 See the updated Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011 at http://bit.ly/1KxUtqn
99 See one of the new applications that uses legislation as open data to search for particular words in UK laws between 1920 and the
present [note this is still a prototype] at http://bit.ly/1DZtFde
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legislation is an important step in updating laws and suiting them for the modern world of
open data. This commitment is a good example of how new approaches to complex
problems of records management will help suit records management for the digital age.
Those involved felt that the OGP commitment was useful in setting resources and provided
the improvement of legislation with a focal point. Having good working relations with TNA,
CSOs and stakeholders were positive about the process.
One interesting side effect was also to produce a range of applications and innovations that
can allow users to look at legislation in new ways. The successful use of volunteer help, via
Hackathons and group work with other bodies, also played an important part in moving the
agenda forward.
This commitment builds on pre-existing work in this area since 2010. The IRM researcher
sees the potential impact as moderate in further developing a specific area, as part of an
ongoing programme of legislative openness.
Moving forward
●
●
●
The IRM researcher agrees with the point of view of TNA that, given the scale of the
new changes, there is an opportunity to research and gather evidence on the new
site and applications to help understand who uses records and why.
The IRM researcher argues that the new applications are an important step forward
in thinking creatively about how records can be visualized and could be the basis for
further innovations and experiments.
The process has shown how initiatives and innovations, such as Hackathons or
volunteer days, can overcome or solve complex problems. Future commitments
could build on these approaches to encourage user-driven and practitioner
solutions.
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11: Whistleblowing
The UK government is committed to ensuring a strong legislative framework to encourage
workers to speak up about wrongdoing, risk or malpractice without fear of reprisal.
Supporting civil society organisations
Public Concern at Work, Transparency International UK
Vision and impact
[…]
The UK government is working to ensure that issues with the existing framework to protect
whistleblowers are resolved, so that government can contribute to achieving the cultural
change necessary. This work was initiated through changes made in the Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and continues in the current call for evidence on the legislative
framework. The UK government will consider using a range of complimentary measures to
achieve its vision. The appropriate mechanisms will be used for implementation. This could be
anything from legislative change, statutory or non statutory codes of practice, guidance or
best practice measures.
Context
The legislative framework for whistleblowing in the UK was introduced in 1998 to ensure that
whistleblowers are protected from suffering dismissal or reprisal when they raise the alarm
about issues of public interest, such as malpractice, in an organisation they work in. […]
However, recent reports such as the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and the
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Report have highlighted that there is a need to
strengthen the framework, as part of a response to prevent scenarios such as unacceptably
poor levels of patient care, fraudulent activity, and staff cultures that deter whistleblowers
from raising concerns. Therefore, the UK Government has called for evidence to understand
where the system is not working as well as it should and allow consideration to be given to
what steps could be taken to improve the framework. […]
Timescales
The changes that have already been introduced will be reviewed as part of the wider
evaluation strategy for the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. This is a five year plan
and will draw conclusions by 2018.
The call for evidence will close on 1 November 2013. The UK government will then consider the
responses, along with the report from the Whistleblowing Commission, supported by Public
Concern at Work to identify solutions.
Means
Following evaluation of the responses to the call for evidence, the UK government will set out a
plan for future work to achieve change and will continue to monitor the general landscape,
along with Publish Concern at Work, to understand the experiences of whistleblowers.
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Potential Impact
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Whistleblowing
What happened?
The commitment builds on pre-existing whistleblower protection contained in the Public
Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) of 1998 that was widely praised for its scope and force.100
However, the coalition government has argued that scandals over banking and controversy
over failings in the NHS, particularly the 2013 Mid-Staffs case, highlighted the need for
greater protections for those wishing to expose wrongdoing.101 The government concluded
that the current framework “has not worked as effectively as hoped, and…there is a need for
a cultural shift in attitudes to whistleblowing.”102
In 2013, the charity Public Concern at Work (PCW) commissioned a group of experts to
examine and make recommendations on whistleblowing. They gave 26 recommendations
including the creation of a new code of practice for whistleblowers, strengthening
regulatory procedures around the PIDA, and protecting wider groups of people within the
framework. In the same year, PCW found that there had been a 61 percent annual increase
in whistleblowing cases in the health sector, 57 percent in the education sector, and an
overall 17 percent increase in the number of whistleblowing issues raised. PCW also
highlighted the fact that 63 percent of the concerns raised were denied or ignored. In April
100 See the Act at http://bit.ly/1bGZNLZ
101 For background see the Commission report by Public Concern at Work that looks at the Public Interest Discloure Act at
http://bit.ly/1e8eEJX and http://bit.ly/1bGZNvr
102 See the National Action Plan commitment 11 at http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
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2015, a Transparency International study of the UK open government commitments
concluded that, while the legislation was strong, the culture of whistleblowing within public
organisations remained weak.103
The commitment comprised a series of smaller milestones that were developed in the
course of the implementation. These included improved guidance for individuals, creation
of a non-statutory code of conduct, assessment of the current whistleblowing ET1 referral
system, the introduction of a duty to report, updating of the prescribed persons list, and the
inclusion of relevant groups currently excluded from the protections.
One of the milestones involved the introduction of a duty to report (meaning small and
medium business must report timings of their payments and invoices) under the Small
Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, following consultation on it in 2013 and a
government response in 2014.104
Slightly ahead of schedule, the government also presented its extended proscribed list of
persons who can be reported to and, following the meeting of the working group, issued the
new Code of Practice completed on 20 March 2015.105 The analysis of ET1 claim forms,
whereby a claimant can cite whistleblowing in an employment tribunal hearing, is ongoing,
and “work is currently being carried out to build a clearer picture of suitability and whether
improvements are required (April 2015).”106 The one milestone that caused difficulty was
the event or celebration of whistleblowing, although the update in January 2015 gave April
2015 as a date for an event.
The overall commitment was implemented amid continuing concerns about whistleblowing
in the United Kingdom. In August 2014, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee
completed an inquiry into whistleblowing, concluding that a culture of bullying towards
whistleblowers remained and that there was a need for cross-government leadership on the
issue. In February 2015, the Freedom To Speak Up review, commissioned by the
government, reported on whistleblowing in the NHS, recommending new good practice
principles, leadership, and a push for culture change within health bodies.107
Did it matter?
Because much of the commitment remains in process, it is difficult to measure the
implementation. The improved guidance and movement on the proscribed list has further
103 See the Commission’s report from 2013 at http://bit.ly/1e8eEJX and the analysis at http://bit.ly/1uJEQGL. See the Transparency
International report at http://bit.ly/1CIfEo6
104 See background on the duty at http://bit.ly/1yiA6sd, the consultation at http://bit.ly/1DNv4EA, and the government response
at http://bit.ly/1lczsCF
105 See the extended list at http://bit.ly/1BtaAU3 and the statutory instruments at http://bit.ly/1bH0mp7. The Code of Practice is at
http://bit.ly/1CURGYA
106 See commitment progress report from January 2015 http://bit.ly/1fG6WyW
107 The Public Accounts Committee report is at http://bit.ly/1KxWbbb, the 2015 Freedom To Speak Up Review commissioned by the
government is at http://bit.ly/1DFeTrF, and the report and summary are at http://bit.ly/1DFeVQc and http://bit.ly/1dxY0Kp
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strengthened the whistleblowing regime and has met some of the requirements of experts
in the 2013 PCW report. It is not yet clear what effect the new guidance or ET1 reforms will
have.
PCW called the moves a step forward but thought that the reforms did not go far enough,
calling the commitment a “clear missed opportunity for the government to strengthen the
law that protects whistleblowers.”108 The 2013 PCW review had concluded that the “PIDA is
not working as intended,” and there remained “gaping” holes in the law over the blacklisting
of workers who blow the whistle and continued use of contractual gagging clauses that
prevent employees from speaking out.109
The potential impact of this commitment is moderate. The potential changes would greatly
strengthen this particular area where the consensus is that the legislation is strong but
needs improvement and that the culture and environment lag behind the law.
Moving forward
●
●
The PCW report in 2013 and the Freedom to Speak review and Transparency
International report in 2015 highlighted the need for more evidence about
whistleblowing in the UK. CSOs emphasized how there is a need for detailed
research into how the PIDA and new reforms have worked.
The IRM researcher recommends that, as with the anti-corruption champion (see
commitment 8), there may be a need for the government to focus on whistleblowing
with a cross-departmental or cross-sector champion to push the process forward.
108 See PCW press release here http://bit.ly/1HsxigI
109 See the PWC response from 2014 at http://bit.ly/1QPQcTD
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12: Open Contracting
The UK government endorses the principles of open contracting. We will build on the existing
foundation of transparency in procurement and contracting and, in consultation with civil
society organisations and other stakeholders, we will look at ways to enhance the scope,
breadth and usability of published contractual data.
Supporting civil society organisations
CAFOD, Campaign for Freedom of Information, Compact Voice, Global Witness, Integrity
Action, ONE, Open Knowledge Foundation, The Institute for Government
Vision and Impact
[…] Domestically, our vision is to provide accountability to the taxpayer for how government
funds are spent, to drive better value for money and increased competition, and to improve the
quality of the services and products government buys. […]
Context
[…] All data published on Contracts Finder is published under the Open Government Licence.
As of September 2013, nearly 18,000 contracts have been published. Where the supply chain
has already been established, typically the contract will contain details of the key
subcontractors. Key metadata for each contract is available to the general public in the form
of machine-readable CSV files.
[…]
Timescales and Detail
Over the next 12 to 24 months the UK government will:
●
●
endorse, implement and champion internationally the Open Contracting Principles at
the end of October 2013 and continue to assist in the development of a set of open
contracting data standards
subject to technical capability, enhance the scope, breadth and usability of published
contractual data on the Contracts Finder system to include:
o providing greater transparency of contracts awarded overseas, beginning
October 2013
o delivering a new procurement pipeline in November 2013
o investigating the feasibility of providing greater transparency of design
competitions run by the Technology Strategy Board
o engaging with prime contractors to encourage them to provide improved
visibility of supply chain opportunities, and explore a means of standardising
the publication of sub-contractor details through Contracts Finder
o investigating the use of open corporate identifiers to allow the data to be more
easily compared and linked to other data held about contracting authorities
and suppliers;
o working with a user group to look at ways of improving site usability to make
it easier to publish data and to find opportunities and other data of interest
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● look to introduce standard transparency clauses
● build on the findings from a pilot programme by launching the new Solutions
Exchange website during Winter 2013 for small and medium-sized enterprises to
pitch innovative solutions.
● take steps to ensure transparency about outsourced services is provided in response to
freedom of information requests, by encouraging the use and enforcement of
contractual provisions to maintain the levels of transparency provided by the Freedom
of Information Act 2000; revised guidance will be provided in 2014
● publish contracts using the local language where contracts are drawn up with
overseas suppliers;
Means
To support delivery of this commitment we will:
●
●
●
●
commence implementation of the Lord Young recommendations following the end of
the public consultation beginning in late October 2013
enhancements to the Contracts Finder system which will take the form of an iterative
approach. The system is due to undergo re-procurement over the next 12 months; we
will be reviewing the specification and usability with a range of stakeholders, with a
view to identifying what improvements might be made in the short term and what
further enhancements could subsequently be brought on stream
continue to monitor quarterly and publish reports on core departmental performance
in publishing tenders and contracts; this supports principle 1.4 of the Compact which
states that government will “ensure greater transparency by making data and
information more accessible”
populate The Solutions Exchange platform with potential challenges and themes for
which departments need solutions. We anticipate that it will be launched to the public
sometime in Winter 2013
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Overall
12.1. Open
contracting
principles
12.2.
Improvements to
Contracts Finder
12.3. Contractual
openness via FOI
clause
What happened?
The commitment on open contracting is based on a series of ongoing changes begun in 2010
and 2011. In May 2010, part of David Cameron's transparency agenda focused on open
contracting:
All new central government tender documents for contracts over £10,000 [will] be
published on a single website from September 2010, with this information…made
available to the public free of charge.110
In March 2011, this agenda led to the creation of a new website, Contracts Finder, that was
intended to become a central repository for all government contracts.111 In addition to the
website, in November 2011 a new pipeline was developed that allows businesses to see
possible future contracts. This pipeline seeks to “cover up to £79 billion of potential
contracting opportunities across 18 sectors over the next six years.”112
The commitment comprises a series of distinct programs across a number of government
bodies, from the DFID to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Crown
Commercial Service (CCS). Part of the commitment also relates to the UK government’s
broader push for open contracting via its 2012 Open Standards Principles and the push for
outsourced companies to maintain the levels of transparency provided by the FOI Act
through contractual clauses.113
The procurement pipeline is up and running with the last update in March 2015. The FCO
published 400 contracts in 2014, and DFID published 56 in the last quarter of the same
year.114 However, the FCO has not converted contracts into local languages due to the high
110 See David Cameron’s letter on Open Data at http://bit.ly/1bj4Ul3
111 See the new website at http://bit.ly/1dpEXkx
112 The pipelines can be seen at http://bit.ly/1GL2DNA
113 See the principles at http://bit.ly/1GJJsB1
114 The procurement pipeline data can be seen at 2014 http://bit.ly/1DFglKy
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costs.115 The proposed solutions exchange website had limited uptake, and it was merged
with the new Contracts Finder site.
The Contracts Finder site, originally created in 2011, was seen as an important step forward
but experts criticised it for incomplete data and obtaining information by “scraping from
the EU portal.”116 Contracts Finder 2 was launched on 26 February 2015 in a beta version.117
The government published its model services contract in March 2014. The contract asks
that contractors abide with the government’s open standards principles in relation to
“software interoperability, data, and document formats,” but guidance has been delayed.118
The transparency clause in contracts relating to FOI remains the subject of discussion but
the current draft asks for the right for a public authority to have information from the
contractor that is reasonably relevant to performance of the contract. A House of Commons
Select Committee in 2012 supported the move as a practical step to extend FOI to deal with
the difficulties of outsourcing. Following a series of scandals involving contracting, there
appears to be enthusiasm on all sides, from government to business. One such scandal
involved the security company G4S, that was alleged to be overcharging taxpayers on its
contracts with the government to operate the electronic tagging of offenders, some of whom
were dead or already in prison. It is hoped that the clause will be ready before October
2015. In March 2015, the Institute for Government (IFG), working with the Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Confederation of British Industry, and various CSOs, drafted a
set of standardized transparency provisions for future contracts with a recommended set of
subjects for proactive disclosure. In parallel, the government published its policy paper,
Transparency of Suppliers and Government to the Public. The paper “set out the
requirement for the proactive release of information under the government’s existing
commitment to publish contract information.”119 The paper listed and reiterated the
different legal requirements in existence and argued that the proposals “set a presumption
in favour of disclosure, to encourage both government and suppliers to consider the
information that should be made available when government signs a contract with a
supplier” and ended by stating that “all central government departments will follow these
principles.”120
115 See the January 2015 update at http://bit.ly/1Q3HgZx
116 See statement in Computerweekly.com here http://bit.ly/1GClK8S
117 See the old and new (beta) sites at http://bit.ly/1dpEXkx (old) and http://bit.ly/1bZl9oK (new). An article looks at how this is
working at http://bit.ly/1GClK8S
118 The model services contract is available at http://bit.ly/1dy1893 and January 2015 update is here http://bit.ly/1Q3HgZx
119 http://bit.ly/1BisnJQ
120 The Confederation of British Industry has expressed support for an FOI clause at http://bit.ly/1bj5eQF. See the committee
recommendations on contracts at http://bit.ly/1DNxfYH and the story of G4S at http://bit.ly/1dQ2TLN. The IFG report is at
http://bit.ly/1Ew9QxC, the blog is at http://bit.ly/1EUxIy6, and the government report is at http://bit.ly/1BisnJQ
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Did it matter?
The commitment has pushed forward the principles and practical operation of open
contracts in a number of ways. This includes publishing data on contracts and pushing for
transparency in present and future contractual arrangements. This is an increasingly
important area as the trend towards outsourcing increases; in 2015 the ICO estimated that
outsourced contracts were worth around £90 billion per year.121 However, much of the
commitment’s implementation is still ongoing. At the time of writing, it was unclear how the
new changes were working, and over time it would be useful to see, for example, levels of
use of the new Contracts Finder site and the rate of adoption of the model contracts.
It is hoped that these changes will go some way towards closing the gap that contracting out
public work creates in terms of openness. The new FOI clause in contracts, for example, may
be a significant step forward in clarifying the often grey area of outsourcing, but the details
and how or if it is used and how it can be enforced are key.122 This is an important step but a
lesser measure than actually extending the FOI Act using section 5 of the Act. Section 5
extension is something the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee recommended in
2014 and was the subject of an attempt to change the FOI Act via a private members’ bill in
October 2014.
Interestingly, the legal landscape may be changing outside of the OGP commitments. Recent
legal rulings and changes meant that Network Rail, the UK railway authority, came under
the UK FOI in April 2015, and in February 2015, private water utility companies may come
under Environmental Information Regulations, an environmental version of FOI.123
Taken together, these changes represent a minor move forward in the area of contractual
openness. The separate steps would each move forward openness in outsourcing, although
not as far as some would like.
Moving forward
●
●
The IRM researcher recommends that, parallel to implementing this commitment,
efforts are made to start building up an evidence base about its effectiveness and
impact, to permit detailed analysis in future of aspects, such as how far the new
contracts have increased transparency or how much the public or others have used
the procurement pipeline or website.
There is a great deal of interest in the issue of extending the transparency of
contracts, from CSOs and lobby group to the ICO. The IFG work may provide a useful
model. The clause in the contract needs to be closely scrutinized, although this may
need to wait for legal rulings or use over coming years to measure the effect of the
change.
121 See the ICO’s announcement on outsourcing at http://bit.ly/1bj5AqI
122 See the Public Accounts Committee views at http://bit.ly/OaSBfI , the details of the private members’ bill at
http://bit.ly/1Hs5GIm and this blog on the legal decision at http://bit.ly/1zhw479
123
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13: Open Contracting Scotland
The Scottish government broadly endorses the principles of ‘open contracting’ and commits to
work with civil society and wider stakeholder groups to improve transparency in its
procurement practices as part of our continuing programme of procurement reform.
Supporting civil society organisations
Civil society organisations to be consulted in 2014
Vision and impact
[…] The Scottish government and the wider public sector are committed to public procurement
reform. The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill is intended to build on the work to date. It
aims to establish a national legislative framework for public procurement that supports
Scotland’s economic growth by delivering social and environmental benefits, supporting
innovation and promoting public procurement processes and systems which are transparent,
streamlined, standardised, proportionate, fair and business friendly.
[…] ‘Open contracting’ relates to ensuring transparency and accountability in procurement
practices and procedures, which in turn will promote fair competition and greater access by
all sectors to public sector contracts.
Context
[…] The Scottish procurement portal for advertising is Public Contracts Scotland (PCS).
[…]The Scottish Procurement Reform Bill currently progressing through the Scottish
Parliament introduces a number of new general duties including a general duty on
contracting authorities to conduct procurement in a transparent and proportionate manner.
Other important measures aimed at improving transparent and open contracting include the
mandatory use of the single online portal Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) for advertising
contract opportunities, the publication of contract award notices and contract registers, the
publication of procurement strategies by public bodies and de-briefing on a regulated
procurement to unsuccessful economic operators, unsuccessful tenderers and successful
tenderers. This range of transparency measures supported by Scotland’s Freedom of
Information legislation and by a diverse range of Scottish stakeholders, including civil society,
are designed to widen access opportunities to public sector contracts across all sectors,
stimulate competition and encourage accountability and openness in the awarding of
contracts. These developments are fully in line with the broad principles of ‘open contracting’.
Timescales
In 2014, the Scottish government will undertake external stakeholder engagement on the
‘open contracting’ commitment. We will, monitor the extents to which contracts are advertised
through PCS and compliance generally with the transparency elements of the Bill and our
wider procurement reform programme.
Means
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The Scottish government and the wider public sector work in partnership to improve
procurement policies, procedures and practices. Realising procurement reform requires
collaboration between all stakeholders - across the public, private and third sectors. In
Scotland, four Centres of Procurement Expertise across central government, local government,
the National Health Service and Higher and Further Education support public sector bodies to
improve the capability and capacity of public procurement. Governance mechanisms exist to
help influence and drive the procurement reform agenda. As part of consulting on the ‘open
contracting’ commitment, these bodies will be involved.
Specificity
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13. Open
Contracting
Scotland
What happened?
This commitment is built on top of previous reforms undertaken by the Scottish
government. This reform is being carried out by the devolved Scottish government under its
separate powers, rather than the United Kingdom.
The Scottish government already publishes a certain amount of contracting information on
contracts over £50,000 and has established the open contract portal Public Contracts
Scotland (PCS).124 It also forms part of wider transparency reforms contained in the Scottish
Procurement Reform Bill that became the Scottish Procurement Act 2014.125
124 See the contracts portal at http://bit.ly/1wKrBGL
125 See the Act at http://bit.ly/1OLM6NK
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A consultation was begun in February 2015 considering different elements of the
Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. It ran from 9 February 2015 until 31 April 2015.
As part of this, Question 63 of the consultation asks:
What is your view of the Scottish Government’s position to broadly endorse the
principles of open contracting and commitment to work with civil society and wider
stakeholder groups to improve transparency in its procurement practices as part of
its continuing programme of procurement reform?126
The Scottish government is also putting in place the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act
2014. The act includes provisions in section 22 concerning publication of contract details on
the PCS website.127 The act is due to be fully implemented by the end of 2015.
Did it matter?
If the changes to both the new Scottish Regulations and the Procurement Reform (Scotland)
Act 2014 are implemented fully, it would mean that Scottish government contracting
procedures would match those of the United Kingdom in levels of openness. Neither of the
commitments will be complete by the publication of this report as they are tied up in
legislative timetables that differ from the OGP cycle. The new Scottish Regulations will be in
place by 18 April 2016, and the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 will be fully
implemented by the end of 2015.
The potential impact of this commitment is minor, offering a limited increase in openness
through contracts and making the outsourced organisations more transparent.
Moving forward
●
●
The IRM researcher recommends that government or external groups examine the
impact of the reforms on organisations and the public as they are rolled out between
2015 and 2016 and as the details become clear.
Moreover, the similarity of the commitment to the United Kingdom’s wider aims
underscores an issue mentioned by CSOs and the UK government. Both argue that
future iterations of the NAP need to co-ordinate with all the devolved bodies and
involve them in new plans and strategies. The UK government’s mid-term
assessment of March 2015 already recognised this.128.
126 See the consultation background at http://bit.ly/1NyKX6d and document here http://bit.ly/1I2R2K9
127 See the background to the Act at http://bit.ly/1DHapAD
128 See the UK Government Mid-term assessment at http://bit.ly/1D1SrhV
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14: Aid Transparency
The UK government will show leadership in transforming the transparency of global
development assistance by publishing information on official development assistance (ODA) in
line with the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Standard, so that UK assistance
can be tracked through the delivery chain.
Supporting civil society organisations
Development Initiatives, Integrity Action, ONE, OpenCorporates, Publish What You Fund
Vision and impact
[…]
Achievement of this commitment will result in more UK data on development assistance being
published and available in a common format to an internationally recognised standard. We
will also encourage other providers of development assistance to make their information
available in this common format, helping to create a richer global dataset of more open,
timely, comprehensive, comparable and reusable information.
Context
[…]
The UK government introduced an Aid Transparency Guarantee in June 2010. In 2011, DFID
published financial information and project documents for all new DFID projects to show:
●
●
●
●
●
[…]
why we have chosen a particular project
how it will be implemented
how much it will cost
what results we expect
ultimately what has actually been achieved
We believe this commitment will work as there is strong international momentum around
increasing the transparency of development assistance, and an appreciation that this is key to
improving effectiveness as well as accountability. The commitment builds on recent G8
commitments-and previous DFID commitments at the Busan High Level Forum on Aid
Effectiveness in December 2011.
Timescales
The Cabinet Office and DFID will work together to ensure that UK government departments
that spend ODA publish information in line with IATI by 2015.
In addition, DFID will:
●
implement the Busan Common Standard on Aid Transparency, including both the
Creditor Reporting System of the OECD Development Assistance Committee and IATI
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by 2015; this means making data available according to the internationally recognised
standard in a format that is open, comprehensive, comparable and re-usable
● improve the accessibility of development assistance information by launching the UK
‘Development Tracker’ by the end of 2013 - this will increase the level of detail of
information available on DFID projects and expenditure, readable by use of a browser
as well as providing data in open data files; we will also publish summary information
in major local languages in a way that is accessible to citizens in the countries in which
we work
● work with international donors and partner countries to better link development
assistance data with partner countries’ budget data, through the development of the
IATI budget identifier, by June 2014; this will make it easier to understand and trace
how development assistance is being spent in partner countries
● introduce approaches to improving the traceability of UK development assistance
through a range of delivery chains by August 2014; this includes pilots with a number
of private sector suppliers and CSOs by March 2014 and a requirement of IATI
publication by the end of 2015 for all implementing partners
● continue to drive up standards in the quality of information we publish through
incremental system changes, including maximising the potential of new technological
developments and strengthening feedback mechanisms
Means
DFID, including through close ministerial engagement, will continue to lead the
implementation of increased UK development assistance transparency, with Cabinet Office
encouraging other government departments to publish to IATI. Other drivers include existing
accountability and reporting mechanisms such as IATI, G8 and Global Partnership for Effective
Development Cooperation (GPEDC) monitoring, and CSO assessments of performance. It will
also be driven by requiring IATI reporting in new contracts with implementing partners.
Departments will need to factor resourcing into their transparency plans to ensure they are
able to fulfil commitments.
The following existing mechanisms will measure progress:
●
●
●
●
●
G8 accountability reporting
GPEDC monitoring: reporting on progress towards implementation of Busan common
standard (first report in first half of 2014, next in 2015)
IATI Annual Reports will reflect progress on increased transparency of development
assistance globally, as well as progress by DFID and OGDs on publishing to IATI
DFID will monitor progress against actions set out in the Aid Transparency Challenge
(deadlines per Impact and Vision section above)
The Aid Transparency Index is an independent measure of progress on aid
transparency (is referenced frequently in the next section)
Specificity
OGP value relevance
Potential Impact
Completion
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Overall
14.1. All ODA
data published
14.2. Implement
the Busan
Common
Standard
14.3. Launch
Development
Tracker
14.4. Launch
IATI budget
identifier
14.5. IATI for all
partners
Editorial note: This commitment is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has transformative
potential impact, and is substantially or completely implemented and therefore qualifies as a starred
commitment.
What happened?
This commitment builds upon the previous actions of the UK government towards
International Aid Transparency. The UK government was one of the founders of the
International Aid Transparency Initiative that promotes standards in aid transparency and
now has 270 different bodies committed to its principles. The government highlighted this
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commitment as a key priority.129 Since 2011, DFID has been publishing a range of
information on spending and procurement on international aid.130 In 2012, DFID was
“ranked first (out of 72 international organisations) in the 2012 Publish What You Fund Aid
Transparency Index, 3rd out of 67 in 2013, 2nd out of 68 in 2014.”131
The commitment comprises a series of separate milestones which are dealt with in turn
below. In terms of ODA, DFID’s self-assessment described publication as having “been
mixed and incremental.” DFID has been widely praised for its publication. However, the Aid
Transparency Index found different parts of UK government at varying levels, and
interviewees praised DFID’s work but saw other departments as lagging behind.
DFID has pushed forward implementation of the Busan recommendations, an agreement on
cross-government shared development goals that includes transparency and accountability
commitments. One assessment found that DFID came second out of 86 countries in
progressing them.132
In 2013 DFID piloted the Development Tracker, an online visualisation tool that allows
users to easily see spending on overseas aid, searchable by sector or location. As of January
2015, DFID claimed that it has 3,200 projects mapped and 120 projects detailed across
Africa and Asia.133
DFID has also been working with Publish What You Fund on developing the Budget
Identifier, a common and consistent classification allowing for mapping across government
budgets. This has been piloted by DFID, among others, and the classifications have been
submitted to the OECD DAC Working Party on Statistics for approval.134
DFID is working with donors to publish open data on supplies and payments. After a
successful pilot, DFID continues to work with BOND on the aid transparency challenge. A
series of workshops planned in March and May 2015 were aimed at improving supplier and
partner cooperation, with a final deadline of December 2015. There is also a promised
publication clause in future contracts with suppliers.
Across the milestones, DFID has been widely praised for its commitment and energy. The
drive behind the process came not only from DFID but also from the personal interest of the
Prime Minister. The closeness and advice of CSOs were seen as immensely valuable to the
process. One of the major obstacles has been the coordination across government and other
partners, as aid is only a small part of other departments’ work. However, it is these areas
that may be of particular interest to campaigners in monitoring aid payment targets.
129 See background at http://bit.ly/18Gy1aR and the government background at http://bit.ly/1I2RDvo, as well as the commitment
pledge at http://bit.ly/1QTjSiF
130 See the ODA statistics at http://bit.ly/1I2RNmp
131 See the second National Action Plan commitment at 14 http://bit.ly/1CbrfZ8
132 See the results at http://bit.ly/1sbeWdJ and background on the agreement in the summary of this document at
http://bit.ly/1zyox4i
133 See the UK Development tracker at http://bit.ly/1ixbOG8
134 See some background on budget identifiers athttp://bit.ly/1EIoCT2
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Overall, the level of completion of this commitment is substantial. While some of the
milestones are complete, some work remains to be done for others.
Did it matter?
This commitment appears to be one of the big success stories of the UK NAP, and DFID has
been widely praised for its efforts. There have been large steps forward in terms of pushing
forward innovations online, working with both international partners and private bodies, as
well as making real progress on the more technical issues.
The UK Aid Network argued that the data needed to be fuller, with increased information
about the effectiveness of aid. There is also inconsistency amongst departments in terms of
how much data are placed on the Development Tracker.135 Some CSOs also thought that
many departments lagged behind DFID’s very strong example, and private providers were
not giving as full or consistent data as required. More could be made of the participation
mechanisms within the innovations, as, for example, the Development Tracker’s feedback
consisting only of an email address and online form.
The IRM judged this commitment to have a moderate impact. The push for aid transparency
is an ongoing process of publication and innovation. Taken together, these changes would
advance the area considerably –in terms of the framework –who publishes data, and the
amount of data put out.
Moving forward
●
●
A blog authored jointly by Oxfam and DFID argued that, “The challenge now is to
take this further and ensure the use of the information and data to improve
development effectiveness.”136 Both the government and CSOs were keen to
understand more about the impact of aid transparency and to open up data that
could trace, for example, the impact of the funds rather than simply the process.
Stakeholders spoke not just about creating standards, but also about making it
useful and practical as a tool to enable government, CSOs, and suppliers to
understand policy.
The IRM researcher recommends that future plans need to emphasise the
importance of cross-departmental cooperation with government looking for means
to ensure consistent use and support for the new developments. In particular, aid
spent by other government departments is important in terms of significance to the
overall understanding of aid transparency and should therefore be closely
monitored.
135 See the UKAN comments at http://bit.ly/1JFDrJq
136 See http://bit.ly/1FCePPt
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15: Health Care Data137
NHS England will be improving the quality and breadth of information available to citizens to
support them to participate more fully in both their own health care and in the quality and
design of health services which will result in greater accountability of NHS England.
Supporting civil society organisations
Macmillan Cancer Support, Nuffield Trust
Vision and impact
[…] Greater transparency will empower patients and citizens to hold the health service to
account and at the same time support life sciences research so that more life saving
treatments can be found.
Context
[…]
A major initiative announced this year, called care.data, led by NHS England and delivered by
the Health and Social Care Information Centre under its new legislative framework, is an
unprecedented new data service. Information on the care received by patients is currently
shared and stored in a secure system to support patients’ treatment. To help improve the
treatment and care of patients it is important for the NHS to be able to use this information to
plan and improve services for all patients. Sharing and linking information from all the
different places where care is received such as GP surgeries, hospitals and community services
will help the NHS to have a full picture of all the care that is going on across England. This will
help the NHS and the life sciences sector to see what care and treatments have worked best
and will lead to improvements in the health service for everyone.
[…] The system to do this will be secure so a patient’s identity is protected. This information,
which does not reveal a patient’s identity, can then be used by others, such as researchers and
those planning health services, to make sure the NHS provides the best care possible for
everyone. Information that will be used and shared is controlled by law and strict rules are in
place to protect patients’ privacy.
Patients will be given the right to object to their data being shared for these secondary
purposes and for those objections to be upheld. To ensure that patients are aware of the
programme and their right to object if they wish, NHS England will be leading a national
programme of awareness including, in January 2014, a patient information leaflet which will
be delivered to every household in England. In addition, patients will in the future be able to
access information held about them via a secure web portal. […]
Timescales
The key milestones for this commitment are:
137 Note: The milestones were merged for brevity into five areas. The first three covered data (clinical data, GP data, social care),
the fourth participation (friends and family), and the fifth services (GP digital).
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● overarching clinical indicators - for ten new clinical areas (including cancer, children’s
services, mental health and stroke), data will be made available to tell the public how
well services are performing and meeting their needs […]
● more clinician level data - building on the successful publication of surgeon level data
from national clinical audits across ten specialties earlier this year, NHS England will
extend the programme to new treatments and conditions (throughout 2014)
● General Practice information - new information about the quality of care provided by
GP practice and associated health outcomes will be made available both as open data
and also through public facing channels such as NHS Choices (Winter 2013)
● social care transparency - information about care services for around 10,000 care
homes collected by the NHS Choices website will be made available as open data in the
Summer of 2014
● extending the Friends and Family test - the successful Friends and Family Test
programme that asks patients whether they would recommend the hospital services
they used to friends or family members will be extended to cover GP practices,
community and mental health services in December 2014 and all other NHS services
by the end of March 2015
● patients in control newly developed Patient Centred Outcome Measurement (PCOM)
tools will provide new insights into how well services for people with 20 different rare
and complex conditions are meeting the needs of their patients. […]
● better open data - to help people to locate and use data about health more easily NHS
England, with the Health and Social Care Information Centre, will comprehensively
review the way that data is made available through data.gov.uk. This will ensure that
health information is easy to find and tagged. We will also increase the availability
and accessibility of key reference data which is available as open data including
geographical information (Summer 2014)
● by June 2014, clinical data from GP practices will be linked to data from all hospitals
providing NHS funded care through the care.data initiative outlined above. […]
We have an ambitious programme of work to support patients to take greater control of their
own health and wellbeing. This will be supported by their General Practice which will offer a
range of digital services. Our ambition is that by March 2015 everyone who wishes to will be
able to:
● order repeat prescriptions and book appointments online
● view their own GP record, including test results, online
● have secure electronic communication with their practice
Alongside this, we are working with leading practices across the country to support
development and evaluation of longer term ambitions, including the use of e-consultations and
more interactive records access, ahead of wider adoption.
Means
NHS England is leading the delivery of these initiatives and will work closely with civil society
organisations, clinicians, patients and their representatives to ensure that the outputs achieve
the maximum benefit.
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Specificity
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Overall
15.1. Clinical data
15.2. GP
information
15.3. Social care
data
15.4. Linked GPhospital data
15.5. Digital GP
services
Editorial note: Under the old criteria of starred commitments, this commitment would have received
a star because it is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has moderate potential impact, and has
been substantially or completely implemented (note that IRM updated the star criteria in early
2015).
What happened?
This commitment comprises eight separate objectives, undertaken by NHS England (the
authority that oversees the NHS), rather than the Department of Health. The commitment
mixed clinical indicators, new online services giving access to medical records, better
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information for patients, and data sharing through care.data. This fits with a series of
strategy documents: the NHS Five Year Forward View (October 2014) and Health and Care
2020 (November 2014, published by the National Information Board). As detailed below,
one of the major barriers to implementation was the controversy around care.data.
There has been major progress on numerous parts of the commitment. In terms of data, the
12 clinical datasets as well as data from general practice settings, adult social care, and
patient-centred outcome measurements have all been published.138 The friends and family
test, piloted in 2013, is now being rolled out across all care settings, with the published
aggregate data including over 5 million pieces of feedback.
The digital services in primary care settings services aim to allow patients to order
prescriptions and see their personal records online. In March 2015 the NHS reported that it
had achieved coverage of 97 percent of practices. NHS England is also working to move
forward what it calls “better open data” with the Health and Social Care Information Centre
working with commitment 1 on the National Information Infrastructure.139
There has been slower progress on the release of information about social care services,
and the self-assessment has “proposed to re-baseline the ambition to achieve 8,750 by April
2015 and 10,000 by April 2016,” through work with partners like home care providers.140
Between 2013 and 2015, there was a great deal of concern about the new central registry of
patient data called care.data. Questions were raised about how the data would be accessed
by researchers, with claims that patient data would be sold to private companies, mixed
with fears that data would not stay pseudo-anonymised and evidence that the public had
not been fully informed.141 The concern over care.data led to clashes and a more difficult
consultation process, with some CSOs reluctant to be engaged. The care.data project has
subsequently been proceeding on a slower time frame as a result of privacy and security
concerns.
Since then, there have been extensive consultations with patients and doctors and a new
advisory board created that includes strong critics of care.data. In November 2014, the UK
government appointed a new national data guardian for health and care, Dame Fiona
Caldicott, who has been given extra powers to become the “patients’ champion on security
of personal medical information.” In June 2015 the UK watchdog of major government
projects gave the project a red rating (meaning ‘successful delivery of the project appears to
be unachievable’), concluding that care.data has “major issues with project definition,
138 See the clinical data at http://bit.ly/1JWHs8U as well as GP data at http://bit.ly/1JWHsG0 and patient- centered outcome
measurement at http://bit.ly/1DE7360 update here. See adult social care at http://bit.ly/1GC6Vl1
139 See the website at http://bit.ly/1OLPbxj
140 See the friends and family background at http://bit.ly/1kCaT7N, the NHS Five-Year Forward View at http://bit.ly/1vQLqLM, and
the 2020 plan at http://bit.ly/14hHM3D
141 See the polling on public and GP understanding of care.data at http://bit.ly/1SkQm3s and the new group at
http://bit.ly/1jMEQvi and http://bit.ly/14hHM3D
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schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be
manageable or resolvable”.142
Resources have shaped the overall discussion. In October 2014, the chief executive of the
NHS, Simon Stevens, spoke of the need for radical reform and an extra £30 billion needed to
close the funding gap by 2020-21.
Overall, the level of completion of this commitment is substantial. While the level of
completion varied within the individual milestones that make up this commitment (from
limited to complete), for the most part, NHS England has advanced substantially in its
commitment to making the health service more transparent and accountable.
Did it matter?
As a number of the parts of the commitment remain ongoing, it is difficult to draw precise
conclusions. Given the complexity and size of the commitment, progress has been
substantial in some areas, particularly in publication of data including patient outcomes.
The digital services and home care openness could also prove important if rolled out in
time. More generally, the ongoing infrastructure work with the NII could prove central.
The care.data controversy has been and remains a key obstacle to the progression of this
commitment. The key problem appears to be that of privacy, and CSOs have been
understandably concerned. NHS England has, however, taken significant steps to meet and
act on these worries. Issues around privacy, anonymity, and commercial exploitation are at
the centre of a delicate balance that also raises highly political difficulties.
This commitment is made up of various parts that have rather different levels or stages of
implementation. Much of the data publication builds on previous openness, though social
care may extend this in new directions. The digitization of GP services may prove
transformative and alter profoundly how patients interact with services. Overall, the
commitment will have a moderate impact.
Moving forward
●
●
The IRM researcher recommends more research as there is a need to understand
how these new reforms are used and by whom, both to advance the evidence base
and to allow a better understanding of the privacy issues raised. The work of the
new bodies, such as the patients’ champion, should also be reviewed and thought
given as to how they could interact with the next NAP.
As the All Party Parliamentary Group for Patient and Public Involvement in Health
and Social Care report showed, there is both public interest and a great deal of
142 More information about the MPA Assessment see http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/26/nhs-patient-data-plans-
unachievable-review-health and here
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/438621/GMPP_data_september_2014.csv/previe
w while the new national data guardian is at http://bit.ly/1xTh5x8
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concern in this area. There is a need to continue with the wide-scale engagement
and awareness raising, both for the public and for those within the NHS.143
● The CSOs were keen to push more strongly for participative tools within the NAP.
Given public interest, the NHS would be a good choice for new experiments and
innovations, whether built on friends and family or new ideas.
143 See the All Party Parliamentary Group for Patient and Public Involvement in Health and Social Care report at
http://bit.ly/1bGjweL
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16: Open Policy Making
The UK government will demonstrate the potential of open policy making by running at least
five ‘test and demonstrate projects’ across different policy areas. These will inform how open
policy making can be deployed across the civil service.
Supporting civil society organisations
The Democratic Society, Involve, Compact Voice, Campaign for Freedom of Information
Vision and impact
The UK government’s commitment to open policy making was set out in the Civil Service
Reform Plan. However, open policy making cannot be introduced by management order - it is
an attitude more than a set of processes. To convince officials that open policy making is
worthwhile, and to convince the public and others that the government is willing to follow
through on its commitment, there is a need to demonstrate how open policy making can really
work.
[…]
The projects will cut across different policy areas and demonstrate how different open
approaches can be used to improve policy. These approaches will include:
sharing the context and evidence on which policy development is being based, both at
the start and throughout the policy process
● engaging a broad range of experts - both from a professional and an experiential point
of view - in the development of policy and ensuring their views are effectively gathered
and demonstrably part of the result
● using new platforms to break open traditional consultation approaches to enable
citizens to comment and track how policy is developing
Context
●
The UK government is committed to make policy open by default in the Civil Service Reform
Plan. Open policy making is about improving the quality of policy making - recognising that
Whitehall does not have a monopoly on the policy making process and that effective policy
making necessarily relies on external input in an increasingly networked world. Open policy
making does not change the core tasks of the policy process, which remain as they ever were:
the policy question still needs to be properly defined and analysed; and options still need to be
developed, tested, implemented, and evaluated. Open policy making therefore changes the way
and the pace at which policy advice is prepared, recognising that there is no one ‘model’ or
‘one size fits all’ approach. It reaches for new tools and techniques that can help.
The UK government and the voluntary and community sector also have an agreement, called
The Compact, which outlines a way of working the two sectors should follow when dealing
with each other. Section 2.3 of the Compact commits government to work with Civil Society
Organisations from the earliest possible stage to design policies, programmes and services and
ensure those likely to have a view are involved from the start.
Timescales
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A meeting during the Autumn will identify candidate projects, with each requiring approval
from their department and ministerial structures before they can formally be included. A final
list will be agreed by January 2014.
The development and learning from the projects will be shared via existing open policy making
networks throughout the process. Those outside of government will be actively encouraged to
comment on, and contribute to, progress. In early 2015, after the completion of the projects,
the government will set out how it will embed the learning and successful approaches
uncovered across the civil service policy profession.
Means
Learning from the projects will be overseen by a project board including civil society
representatives. The projects will be accountable to their individual departments.
Civil society representatives will support departments in delivering these projects (where
relevant). This will be agreed on a case by case basis.
Specificity
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16. Open policy
making
What happened?
The opening up of policy making forms a wider part of the transparency agenda in the UK.
Opening up policy in Britain pre-dates the arrival of digital technology, going back to the
1960s and 1970s. By the 2000s, there were a series of initiatives designed to increase
consultation and engagement. The aim is to make public participation, digital technology,
and online consultation the norm across government.
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The commitment stemmed from the government’s Civil Service Reform Plan 2012 and the
‘digital by default’ agenda. The central idea is that “open policy making will become the
default. Whitehall does not have a monopoly on policy-making expertise.”144
The commitment comprised a series of case studies in opening up policy making. These
studies were intended to be practical projects to test the barriers and explore the obstacles
to opening up processes. The Cabinet Office Policy Lab chose the cases following
consultation with CSOs, who helped identify cases with potential.145
Of the five projects originally envisioned, the initial three chosen were—
1. The Cabinet Office’s Local Sustainability Fund
2. The Department of Health’s Social Care Ratings
3. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Exotic Animal
Diseases Compensation
Consultations were held on the Cabinet Office Local Sustainability Fund between 1 May
2014 and 24 June 2014, and the process was helped by the use of social media. However,
according to the January self-assessment, the process of developing new tools for
engagement proved too expensive, while existing tools on gov.uk were not designed to be
used in this way. Time pressures led to a more formal written process.146
The Department of Health Social Care Ratings policy was concluded in September 2014,
following consultation. It had made significant progress in identifying a lack of public
awareness, with further campaigns and research promised.
The DEFRA case study on compensation for exotic animal diseases was stalled by the
political cycle, a combination of lack of time, resources, and political considerations. The
case study found that cost and scope were prohibitive factors, but the self-assessment
claims this will be reviewed in the coming financial year (2015-2016).
Following completion of the three cases, the Cabinet Office team leading the case studies has
also committed to meeting CSOs and completing the outstanding two cases.147
A fourth project was then included, after the others, covering the work for the Office of
Deputy Prime Minister on its Northern Futures project. This looked at the development of
northern English cities. The initiative enabled people to comment and rate others’
comments in a public forum and involved a series of eight day-long deliberative meetings in
different locations in the north of England.148
144 See the Civil Service Reform plan and ‘digital by default’ approach at http://bit.ly/1pWxOh2; http://bit.ly/1AppHKr
145 See the Open Policy blog at http://bit.ly/1D3Fxgf and the policy lab that led the work at http://bit.ly/1nZSdw9
146 See some background on the sustainability fund at http://bit.ly/SdKott
147 See the September updates from 2014 at http://bit.ly/1JFFihg
148 http://bit.ly/1pkk6Fh and details on the applications and online dialogue at http://bit.ly/1w0mWSd
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The approach of the lead team changed during the course of the commitment. The Cabinet
Office team began by “helicoptering” and monitoring progress from above in the first three
cases. However, by the time of the fourth assessment, the office had shifted to a new
approach of greater involvement by the team. Stakeholders interviewed found that the later
approach worked better as a more integrated and supportive way of working.
Did it matter?
Given the importance of open policy making to the government plans, stakeholders and
CSOs were disappointed with the outcomes of the commitment. It fell short of the five
promised case studies with only three cases eventually developed, two of which went
ahead, and an extra project added later.
There does need to be recognition that, especially in areas as complex as openness and
public engagement, not all experiments will succeed. Both successes and failures can teach
valuable things. There were some interesting uses of social media to reach beyond the usual
suspects. The team’s recognition of the need for a different approach should also be praised,
especially as it seemed to bring better results in the Northern Futures case.
The CSOs thought there was a lack of clarity over the aims of the commitment and
expressed concern as to what had been achieved. One CSO described it as an empty
restaurant syndrome, whereby a lack of interest led to further disengagement by CSOs and
stakeholders.
The IRM researcher thought this commitment had moderate potential impact as a series of
case studies designed to take further the ongoing process of involving the public in policy
making. The commitment would offer models and a series of lessons for further movement
in this area.
Moving forward
●
●
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The IRM researcher recommends continuing with these cases beyond the scope of
the NAP. The IRM researcher also suggests that the next Action Plan should work on
a clearly planned series of policy innovations with a clear timetable and objectives.
Given the levels of interest in the wider issue of opening up policy making, the
researcher also recommends the publication of a document for CSOs, the public, and
other departments on lessons learned from the case studies.
The CSOs thought that there is a need for closer coordination between departments
in identifying and working on policy cases. There could also be wider involvement of
groups of CSOs and experts in choosing case studies and possible sites of
innovations.
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17: Sciencewise
The UK government will identify innovative and effective ways to engage the public in policy
involving complex scientific and technological innovation through the Sciencewise
Programme.
Supporting civil society organisations
The Democratic Society.
Vision and impact
The Sciencewise Programme has built up considerable experience and expertise in engaging
the public in policy involving science and technology. The new contexts of open policy making
and the digital revolution present both challenges and opportunities to increase the
programme’s impact to benefit UK citizens. Sciencewise will commit to exploring ways of
opening up public dialogue to wider voices - both public and partners will share the learning.
Context
Science, technology and engineering are essential to daily life. They help us to understand and
address the main challenges we face both in the UK and globally, underpin economic
prosperity and support growth eg food security. […]
Sciencewise has been developing ways to carry out a dialogue with members of the public and
experts within the UK research and policy making systems for ten years. It has opened up
policy making by supporting, funding, and providing advice and training, on over twenty
scientific and technology topics critical to the UK's prosperity. These include Synthetic Biology,
Nanotechnology, Stem Cells and Sustainable Energy Pathways to 2050.
Timescales
The open policy making commitments made by the UK government now provide an
opportunity for Sciencewise to build on its experience in the very heart of government policy
making. The Sciencewise commitments will commence in early 2014 with the aim of piloting
and evaluating throughout 2014 and embedding during 2015.
Means
Sciencewise will bring together civil society organisations to better understand how to involve
them in public dialogue on science and technology policy. The programme will identify groups
that come from different areas of the UK and certain sectors which will enable the programme
to have as wide a reach as possible.
Sciencewise will also convene a panel of digital engagement experts and interested
organisations from the civil society community to develop digital mechanisms to open up
dialogue to a wider public audience. This builds on Sciencewise’s work with the Democratic
Society and the Government Digital Service to assess barriers and potential options.
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Specificity
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17. Sciencewise
What happened?
This commitment intends to extend the Sciencewise project, which was created in April
2012. The OGP aim thus fitted within an ongoing process. This project aims to
...bring together members of the public, policy makers, scientists, and other expert
stakeholders to deliberate, reflect, and come to conclusions on national public policy
issues involving science and technology.149
The projects cover a broad range of scientific issues from nanotechnology to climate
change.150 Sciencewise is committed to “public dialogue in policy making involving science
and technology issues” and “increasing the effectiveness with which public dialogue is used
and encouraging its wider use where appropriate.”151 In September 2014, Sciencewise was
shortlisted for one of the top 10 awards in the Open Government Partnership new
international Open Government Awards under the theme of citizen engagement.152
149 The Sciencewise website can be found at http://bit.ly/1I2TEaZ
150 A full list of projects is available at http://bit.ly/1Apr5ww
151 http://bit.ly/1I2TEaZ
152 Find out more about Sciencewise at http://bit.ly/1zytVVh and the September 2014 updates here http://bit.ly/1zjVoto
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The commitment entails the development of 20 projects on which Sciencewise is currently
working, covering issues from patient data to nanotechnology and food supply. Across these
projects, Sciencewise has provided funding and advice and sought to encourage innovations
in the delivery of consultations, with a particular focus on digital engagement techniques.
Independently of the OGP, Sciencewise itself is continuously evaluating the projects at the
interim and final stage.153
Did it matter?
This commitment has been successful. Sciencewise work will go beyond the OGP deadline
into April 2016, so the timing is different from the OGP process. Evaluating the commitment
is also further complicated by the rolling nature of the innovations and the fact that
Sciencewise advises others rather than acts directly.
However, the commitment has achieved some notable successes. One high profile example
of Sciencewise’s influence concerned its work with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority in 2012-2013 that looked into the ethically complex issue of allowing
mitochondria replacement through the so-called three-parent baby technique (a modified
version of IVF treatment that combines the DNA of the two parents to prevent a disease).
The consultation found “general support for permitting mitochondria replacement in the
UK.”154 This support then played an important role in the free votes in the House of
Commons and House of Lords in February 2015 that amended the 2008 Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Act to make the technique legal155.
A second example is the role of Sciencewise in advanced discussion around genetically
modified food in the UK. In February 2015 the House of Commons Science and Technology
Committee report on ‘Advanced genetic techniques for crop improvement’ praised the
dialogue created by Sciencewise as a future building block for wider public debate156.
One of the challenges for Sciencewise is how to balance resource and time constraints with
the need to have high quality and credible participation. To some public bodies involving
the public is still seen as innovative in own right and some areas of government need to
perceive the value of involvement and find the time and resources to do it.
This commitment was seen as having a ‘minor’ potential impact as it is part of a process that
has been developed (and will continue to be developed) for some time in a specific area.
Moving forward
●
The IRM researcher believes there is need for increased awareness and lesson
learning from successful cases, particularly as some areas of government need to
perceive the value of public involvement in difficult or complex issues.
153 You can see details on the 20 projects here http://bit.ly/1Apr5ww
154 See http://bit.ly/1bllroG and the consultation http://bit.ly/1JFFPjg
155 See details on the new law and technique here http://bbc.in/1zB1Vhy and http://bit.ly/1Doy4sw
156 See this blog on the Committee report at http://bit.ly/1zjVKQC and the dialogue here http://bit.ly/1c2imLu
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● Those working on the project felt it could benefit from tighter objectives and
specific, interim goals and the involvement of more CSOs. The phrase used in the
commitment, ‘bring together civil society organisations’, is very un-specific and nonexplicit about whether this would be with a view to informing, consulting, involving,
enabling to collaborate, or empowering the civil society actors; this should be
addressed in future commitments of this kind.
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18: Publication of Draft Legislation
The UK government will publish legislation in a draft format on GOV.UK whenever
appropriate, in order to enable and promote public involvement and engagement in proposed
changes to the law.
Supporting civil society organisations
Compact Voice, Involve, The Democratic Society
Context
The UK government has a good track record of publishing legislation in draft and consulting
on it before it is introduced. Experience to date suggests that the process of consultation, and
of formal pre-legislative scrutiny by parliamentary committees, has potential to improve the
quality of legislation by engaging stakeholders and the wider public at an early stage, giving
an opportunity for legislation to reflect the input of those potentially affected by it. Making this
practice the norm will, given the experience to date, help further the transparency of law and
the policy development process, and improve understanding and engagement with legislation.
Government is committed to following Principle 2.4 of the Compact which states, “Give early
notice of forthcoming consultations, where possible, allowing enough time for civil society
organisations to involve their service users, beneficiaries, members, volunteers and trustees in
preparing responses. Where it is appropriate, and enables meaningful engagement, conduct
12-week formal written consultations, with clear explanations and a rationale for shorter time
frames or a more informal approach.”
Timescales
The procedure and timescales for publishing bills in draft is set by the Cabinet Office’s
Parliamentary Business and Legislation Secretariat and Parliament. At an early stage in the
process of approving work on new legislation, the government will set out its commitment to
publish a bill in draft on gov.uk (or the reasons why publication is not appropriate in a
particular case).
The effect of publication will be evaluated on a case by case basis. This will take into account
levels of stakeholder engagement in policy development.
Means
The UK government will ensure that best practice is identified, understood and applied
appropriately by government. It will identify or create standards to deliver this commitment
through process and technology. Any further pilots involving public consultations on draft bills
will have to reflect on any improvements that could be made to the technology and the
processes used in the completed pilots.
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18. Publication of
draft legislation
What happened?
Publishing legislation in draft format has been a policy of successive UK governments since
1997. This commitment builds on ongoing attempts to publish more legislation in draft157. It
fits with growing attempts to increase the scrutiny of legislation, which includes giving
select committees the chance to look at pieces of draft laws before they begin the legislative
process, so-called pre-legislative scrutiny, and encouraging increased public involvement in
law making.158 159
Publishing in draft helps to improve the quality of legislation and means that legislators can
draw on technical expertise both within Parliament (via select committees or members of
the House of Commons and House of Lords) and from outside.
The coalition government since 2010 has published a record number of bills in draft. These
include, for example,
157 See http://bit.ly/1QTtNVD and set out in http://bit.ly/1dAIMEw; http://bit.ly/1QTtNVD
158 See this briefing paper on government commitments on the Coalitions pre-legislative scrutiny between 2010 and 2014 at
http://bit.ly/1zywM0t
159 See this lecture at http://bit.ly/1HXSWKF
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● Draft Governance of National Parks (England) and the Broads Bill
● Draft Riot (Damages) Bill
● Draft Protection of Charities Bill
● Draft Modern Slavery Bill
In total, 65 pieces of draft legislation were published between 1997 and 2009/10, as against
31 between 2010 and 2014, although the rate in the 2014-15 session slowed down to four
due to the reduced amount of legislation close to the election.160
Beyond consideration of simply the amount of legislation published in draft, it is also
important to consider the significance of the individual pieces of legislation. In January
2015, the government published one of its most significant pieces of constitutional
legislation in draft, Scotland in the United Kingdom: An Enduring Settlement, an all-party
command paper on giving the Scottish Parliament greater powers following the Scottish
independence referendum of September 2014.161 This paper contained draft proposals for
an important set of potential constitutional changes that could have a profound effect on the
future of the British political system.
Did it matter?
The commitment is an ongoing process since 1997, and so measuring its implementation is
difficult. However, the coalition government between 2010 and 2015 moved farther along
the path of legislative openness.
This had some beneficial effects. Interviewees spoke of how draft legislation was useful in
framing discussion about the legislation, rather than general policy, and allows experts to
get involved in processes. For example, the Protection of Charities Bill involved scrutiny by
a joint committee of both houses of Parliament that praised the early draft publication as a
“wholly welcome development” that allowed greater public and parliamentary scrutiny at
an earlier stage than would otherwise be the case.162
However, the government thought that the usefulness of publishing draft bills might vary.
For more technical bills, a draft can be very useful. However, not all bills are suitable.
Sometimes it is better to consult on the principle of the policy rather than on the detail of
the legislation. In 2012 the House of Commons Liaison Committee also raised issues of
timing, arguing that some legislation was published for analysis by Parliament on too tight a
timetable, and other legislation was given to joint committees, that can be more easily
influenced by the government, rather than more independent and expert select committees
in the House of Commons.163 As an example of this concern, committees in both the House of
160 See a comparison here between previous administrations and the current government at http://bit.ly/1QTw7Mi;
http://bit.ly/1zywM0t
161 See the draft bills at http://bit.ly/1wtwgMr, here http://bit.ly/1OLV0ef. The Scottish draft is at http://bit.ly/15vgIxZ. For
background on its importance, see http://bit.ly/1ApvEH6
162 See the statement by the Charities Commission at http://bit.ly/1Q7aoPH
163 See the Liaison Committee report at http://bit.ly/1KzR0rq
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Commons and House of Lords expressed disappointment at the timing of the release of the
draft Scotland proposals that did not provide enough time for detailed scrutiny.164
The publication of legislation in draft has been moving forward since the late 1990s. The
commitment has minor potential to move this agenda forward and extend its scope.
Moving forward
●
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●
Parliament increasingly expects that legislation be published in draft. It would be
useful to take stock of impact and establish procedures as to how it has worked,
what works best, and when. In 2012, the House of Commons Liaison Committee
Select Committees recommended that the government ensure that sufficient time be
given for scrutiny of draft legislation and that House of Commons select committees
be given precedence in considering this legislation.
Different departments and bodies pursue numerous commitments in the NAP
concerning legislation separately. There is an opportunity to link these different
changes—from making legislation easier to understand to turning it into data. The
different commitments here should be combined and work alongside each other
where possible.
The IRM researcher would also recommend that this could link to the Speaker’s
Commission on Digital Democracy (2015) that proposed greater use of social media,
new interactive forums, and the publication of Hansard (the daily report of what is
said in Parliament) and bills as data by 2020.165
164 See the Lords Committee response at http://bit.ly/1FCl7yg
165 The Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy is available at http://bit.ly/1JcGWDM
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19: OpenDataCommunities Programme
The UK government will ensure the OpenDataCommunities programme continues to free up
DCLG’s [Department for Communities and Local Government] evidence-base from literally
thousands of disconnected spreadsheets, so that it can be quickly and easily discovered,
combined and re-used over the web alongside related third party sources.
Vision and impact
DCLG will continue to extend the range and volume of fully accessible, five-star data published
via its OpenDataCommunities service. It will also maintain a showcase of visualisations and
interactive dashboards. Standards and best practice developed under the programme will also
be promoted domestically (particularly amongst local authorities) and internationally.
The vision is that by 2015, OpenDataCommunities will be the DCLG’s single platform for:
●
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routinely releasing all departmental data sources in a fully open, accessible and reusable forms, whilst preserving data quality and integrity
stimulating third parties to use departmental data alongside related external sources
to deliver innovative new tools and insights
supporting the department to use its own and related third party sources in a more
efficient, cost-effective manner, when designing and implementing policies and
programmes
building and spreading best practice for sharing and re-using data based on common
standards, with a particular focus on partnerships with local authorities and other
local public sector agents to unlock and publish their local sources in a consistent,
comparable form
The benefits and impact will include:
●
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enabling economic growth - open and accessible data will enable growth of new
services in the information economy, plus delivery of more efficient/cost-effective data
sharing within current ‘data rich’ business networks, eg by streamlining sharing of
data amongst business engaged in land-use planning and house-building
facilitating social growth - open data drawn from multiple sources will be the fuel to
power greater public participation in and understanding of DCLG’s policies and
programmes at the local level. This is particularly important for policies under the
localism and Community Rights agendas including Neighbourhood Planning and
Neighbourhood Budgeting
greater efficiency and cost-savings for DCLG and its partners - through standardising
data and making it more open and accessible, we will reduce the cost and overheads of
sharing often incompatible sources amongst a broad and diverse partner network.
When coupled with development of new digital tools and services, this will deliver
knock-on benefits to citizens, local communities, and businesses (ie data users), eg by
providing outputs that are easier to understand and use, thereby streamlining the
process, and so reducing the costs and overheads of engaging with public service
providers
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Context
Through 33 demanding actions, the DCLG Open Data Strategy sets out how the department
will drive reform and service improvement through transparency and greater citizen
participation. At the heart of many of these commitments is its flagship OpenDataCommunities
programme.
[…]
To date, the project has focussed on partnerships with Local Authorities and homelessness
charities, to deliver new tools and mechanisms for blending departmental and locally
produced sources, and presenting results to users in a range of innovative, engaging tools. […]
Timescales
OpenDataCommunities is still largely in its formative stage, and driven by user demand for
data, so it is difficult to provide precise milestones. However, in broad terms, the key outputs to
be delivered by the end of 2015 will be:
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Means
a robust, reliable and trusted source of DCLG data in fully open, accessible forms - with
data content delivered according to user demand and priorities established under the
NII and supporting strategies
active, sustained and significant use of sources in OpenDataCommunities by local
authorities, public sector agencies, voluntary and charity organisations, and the
private sector. To be achieved through pro-active, targeted promotion and
communications, working closely with users to capture and disseminate evidence of
benefits achieved
strong and effective partnerships with key national and local bodies, thereby
maximising re-use of OpenDataCommunities’ standards and best practices
alignment of OpenDataCommunities with data.gov.uk, and new data visualisation and
collaboration tools emerging on the single government domain - thereby maximising
opportunities for DCLG content to be combined with and re-used alongside related
public sector sources
development of OpenDataCommunities as the authoritative source for core reference
data - ie supporting linking and joining of related datasets.
We anticipate that additional resources will be required to realise OpenDataCommunities’
aims and vision. At this stage, it is difficult to estimate the likely scale and impact largely
because the service will grow progressively, in response to user demand.
Where possible, we will look to absorb additional resource requirements within existing
budgets, and by spreading the load amongst our stakeholders and partners. Where demand
cannot be accommodated, we would either re-prioritise forward plans (ie., scale back), or look
to submit a bid for suitable funding sources, such as the Open Data Breakthrough Fund.
Specificity
OGP value relevance
Potential Impact
Completion
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Overall
19.1. Robust,
reliable, and
trusted source of
DCLG data
19.2. Strong use
by stakeholders
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partnerships
19.4. Alignment
of data and new
tools
19.5. Linked data
to other tools
What happened?
This commitment builds on the developments led by the DCLG and diffused across English
local government for some years.
The OpenDataCommunities hub is an innovation first launched in April 2013. Since then, it
has been subject to a series of additions, with new applications and data added continously.
The aim of the portal is to—
provide a selection of statistics on a variety of themes including local government
finance, housing and homelessness, well-being, deprivation, and the department's
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business plan, as well as supporting the collection and dissemination of
geographical data.166
According to the site, “all of the data is available as fully browsable and queryable linked
data, and the majority is free to re-use under the Open Government Licence.”167
The hub has formed a central part of DCLG's open data strategy since 2013. Between 2013
and 2015, the hub has developed well-being and deprivation maps, a personalised
spreadsheet generator, and a local authority dashboard where users can enter a postcode to
find specfic details about their local council area. Recently published data includes council
tax data down to the (lowest) parish level and new map applications, all of which are linked.
The January 2015 progress update explained that some publication plans were behind
schedule, but more data on building energy use and household projections were added at
the end of April.168
There has been substantial partnership work with DCLG working alongside the Local
Government Association (LGA), the Cabinet Office, and local authorities to develop common
standards and data with URIs (codes that allow data to be linked). There has also been work
with data.gov.uk to create synergies amongst the different portals.169 Some interesting side
developments include the LGA’s LG Inform Service, an open platform that allows users to
benchmark comparative data across England’s 353 local authorities.170
Overall, the level of completion of this commitment is substantial.
Did it matter?
Most public engagement and participation is with local government, and the hub presents
an important way of potentially furthering this. This commitment has been a success,
pushing forward a local openness agenda through a combination of data publication,
technical change, and innovative partnership work.
In terms of usage, the government’s own progress update of January 2015 reported an
increase in direct use:
Usage remains consistently strong. In the 12 months ending 31 January 2015,
OpenDataCommunities received 144,748 visits from 67,705 visitors. This compares
166 See the hub list of changes at http://bit.ly/1EVCmvP
167 The hub can be found at http://bit.ly/1yf1jeU
168 See DCLGs Open data Strategy at http://bit.ly/1Ivtz3g
169 See the council tax data at http://bit.ly/1dARtid
http://bit.ly/1JFJLjS and the January 2015 commitment progress update at http://bit.ly/1JFJM7A
170 The January 2015 commitment progress update is http://bit.ly/1JFJM7A and the URIs and work with the LGA is here
http://bit.ly/1KzS8eF
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to 82,569 visits from 40,468 visitors in the 12 months ending 31 Jan 2014, i.e., visits
have increased by 75 percent and visitors by 67 percent.171
The self-assessment also highlighted how the data are being used for a whole series of locallevel applications from homelessness in Winchester to food deprivation in Lambeth.172 The
hub is user-friendly, innovative, and regularly updated.
Some problems remain. First, parts of the publication process remain behind schedule
owing to resource issues within central government and severe funding problems across
local authorities. Second, there may also be problems for local authorities relating to skills
and the ability to innovate. As DCLG pointed out, “consuming and re-using linked data is not
straightforward….[T]his is partly due to a lack of established tools and standards.” DCLG
also said that, “publishers generally lack the tools, capacity, and expertise.”173 A final
difficulty is more political: explaining and convincing senior managers of the benefits of
opening up and linking data.174
The IRM saw this commitment as having a minor potential impact. It forms part of a series
of changes and innovations with local government that have been in process since before
the second NAP. In the longer term, some of the innovations and developments may have a
far wider influence at the local level, an area where the public has the most interaction with
public bodies.
Moving forward
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As both DCLG and others have pointed out, there is a clear need for evidence about
the benefits of linked data. The series of interesting examples (and others) need to
be fully explored to see how the data are being used and what benefits then flow
from publication.
The IRM researcher recommends that future ideas should build on the successful
examples of partnership work here, looking at both data demand and the resources
needed for work on new applications.
This commitment also highlights the need to examine skills sets and resources
within local authorities and how they can be developed (either in house or via
partnerships).
171 The LGA Inform tool can be found at http://bit.ly/1OLZem6
172 See the ODC background at http://bit.ly/1blsQ7o and information about partnership work in Winchester at
http://bit.ly/1GNdpmI
173 See DCLGs Open data Strategy at http://bit.ly/1Ivtz3g
174 See this article reflecting on the obstacles by one of the creators of OpenDataCommunities at http://bit.ly/1w8szd8. The UK
government has also begun examining the role of digital skills. See this reference point at http://bit.ly/1Ewqqyi
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20: PSI Re-Use Directive
The UK government will transpose into UK law and implement European legislation on the reuse of public sector information early, delivering the obligation on public sector bodies to
make their information available for re-use.
Supporting civil society organisations
Campaign for Freedom of Information, Open Knowledge Foundation, Open Rights Group
Vision and impact
The UK’s implementation of European Directive 2013/37/EU amending Directive 2003/98/EC
on the re-use of public sector information (the PSI Directive) will make more public sector
information available for re-use both for commercial and non-commercial purposes, in
machine-readable formats and under the Open Government Licence. […]
Context
The UK is committed to implement legislation in this area under the European treaty and the
Digital Agenda. There are clear synergies between the aims of the Directive to remove
obstacles to the use and re-use of public sector information and the UK Government’s policy on
open data and transparency, including the NII and the Open Data Charter.
The UK has been operating under UK based regulations since 2005 and has effective open
licensing and redress mechanisms in place to encourage and enable the re-use of public sector
information, including:
the development of the UK Government Licensing Framework and the Open
Government Licence
● the establishment of a low cost statutory complaints process in the existing UK
Regulations
● the Information Fair Trader Scheme regulatory framework
● proactive release of datasets through data.gov.uk and departmental Open Data
Strategies
● the existence of well established charging policies for re-use
Through these policies and initiatives, the UK is in first place on the crowd-sourced European
PSI Scorecard which measures the status of open data and PSI re-use throughout the
European Union.
●
Timescales
Public consultation on the legislation will take place in 2014. Accelerated delivery of the new
mandatory framework for re-use is the goal to ensure that the UK meets its aims to remove
unnecessary barriers to public sector information. Practical tools, guidance and an effective
redress mechanism will be in place to support and meet this commitment.
Means
The commitment will be delivered by clear streamlined legislation underpinned by practical
guidance and tools, including a suite of open licences. An effective regulatory framework to
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deliver the impartial review of decisions made by public sector bodies will build confidence in
the information sector.
Specificity
OGP value relevance
No
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Ac
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Publ
ic
Acc
ount
abili
ty
Technolo
gy &
Innovatio
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Transpare
ncy &
Accounta
bility
Potential Impact
N
o
ne
M
in
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M
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de
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Tr
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sf
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ve
Completion
N
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Li
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20. PSI Re-Use
Directive
What happened?
The adoption of the PSI Directive follows on from the domestic regulations adopted in 2005
on the re-use of public-sector information.175 These regulations implemented European
Directive 2003/98/EC on re-use of information, an EU-wide attempt, developed since the
1980s, to harmonise use and develop public data for commercial benefit.176 The guidance
from TNA explained that—
The purpose of the regulations is to establish a framework that provides for the
effective re-use of public-sector information...based on the principles of fairness,
transparency, non-discrimination, and consistency of application.177
In the United Kingdom, the PSI regulations were originally overseen by the Office of Public
Sector Information, based in TNA.
The new PSI Directive makes a number of important changes to the regulations from 2003:
175 See the regulations at http://bit.ly/1JWSrz5
176 See http://bit.ly/1JWSzPh and the amended directive at http://bit.ly/1mPZcLV
177 See this guide to the regulations at http://bit.ly/1QTMQPA
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1. It introduces a binding means of redress that was not in the original 2003
regulations.
2. It expands the reach of the PSI Directive to new bodies across cultural sectors that
include museums, libraries (including university libraries), and archives.
3. It makes data re-use mandatory unless an area is specifically exempt (e.g., for the
cultural sector), where before re-use was optional.
4. It introduces marginal cost pricing as the default position.
Although it did not contain any specific milestones, the commitment’s aim was to transpose
the PSI Directive into law ahead of the EU deadline of 18 July 2015. The engagement process
around the regulations involved an inner group of Whitehall departments, including the
Treasury, Department of Health, the Cabinet Office, and the Scottish Government, but also
extended to broader public-sector bodies. The process included meetings with stakeholders
and bodies such as the Open Data User Group, the Open Data Institute, and the Campaign for
Freedom of Information every three to six months.
The formal consultation on PSI ran from 20 August to 7 October 2014. The 21 responses
were mainly from those stakeholders already involved in PSI, and there was some
unhappiness that the discussion was not able to extend beyond a small group.178
Did it matter?
The commitment is still ongoing and likely to miss the intended early transposition target.
Nevertheless, the process of consultation and rethinking is a positive step. The particular
commitment stemmed from a need to find a tangible link or commitment to push in this
area. The OGP gave it a focus and momentum and led to a detailed consultation process ..
Currently, it is unlikely that transposition will take place as early as hoped for two reasons.
First, stakeholders brought up a number of issues during consultation. For example, some of
those consulted supported giving redress power to the ICO, which currently oversees other
information legislation redress appeals. Second, the UK general election in May 2015
slowed up parliamentary time between March and early May 2015.
This commitment refines and develops an existing piece of legislation to widen its scope
and alter the mechanisms of oversight and appeal. As a change to a pre-existing law it will
have a minor impact.
Moving forward
●
Once the law is transposed, those involved and the IRM researcher recommend in
due course a review of the new arrangements and how far they have delivered their
aims. Important issues to look at would include the use and function of the redress
mechanism and the impact of the extension to new cultural bodies.
178 See the consultation summary at http://bit.ly/1wdmpd4 and the full consultation and background documents at
http://bit.ly/1bly3w1
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● Any analysis could also look into widening consultation and awareness of PSI to
encourage greater interaction and involvement by more bodies in the future,
perhaps by using the new cultural institutions and their access to the public.
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21: Extractive Transparency
The UK government will implement and internationally champion a global standard of
financial transparency and accountability in the extractive industries (oil, gas and mining) on
the part of governments and companies, in line with the principles in the G8 Open Data
Charter.
Supporting civil society organisations
CAFOD, Christian Aid, Global Witness, ONE, Open Knowledge Foundation, OpenCorporates,
Publish What You Pay, Tearfund
Vision and impact
Mandatory requirements for extractive (oil, gas and mining) companies to report their
payments to governments country-by-country and project-by-project, especially when
complemented by governments’ disclosure of the revenues received from each company and
for each project, will help make the extractive industries far more transparent and
accountable worldwide.
Our vision is that by 2020 at the latest all the world’s extractive companies will be required by
home country regulations and stock market listing rules, and by host country membership of
the EITI [Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative], to report their payments to
governments by country and by project.
The UK aims to ensure that extractives companies’ transparency reports are openly available
and accessible and will explore the most suitable formats and mechanisms for this, including
consideration of standard reporting templates.
Context
[…]
The UK committed to become an EITI implementing country in May 2013 and welcomed the
stronger and more detailed EITI reporting standard agreed at the 2013 EITI Global
Conference, which requires project-level reporting of payments and information about stateowned enterprises, recommends publicly available registers of beneficial ownership of
extractive companies, and encourages public disclosure of contracts and licences.
The UK is also proactively engaged in discussions with other European Union member states to
deliver effective transparency legislation through the EU Transparency and Accounting
Directives, requiring extractive companies to report payments to governments at country and
project level.
A key outcome of the June 2013 G8 Summit under the UK’s Presidency was the Open Data
Charter, with commitments to a set of principles that will be the foundation for access to, and
the release and reuse of, data made available by G8 governments. […]
The UK committed to principles of open data through the G8 Open Data Charter, which will be
applied to extractives’ data.
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Timescales
The key milestones for this commitment are:
2013
●
●
2014
●
●
The UK establishes an EITI multi-stakeholder group
The UK government consults on draft transposition legislation for the Accounting
Directive
The UK is formally recognised as an EITI candidate country
The UK completes transposition of the Accounting Directive and accompanying
guidance recommends that UK-registered extractive companies publish data in an
open and accessible format
2015
●
●
The UK publishes its first EITI report and the multi-stakeholder group will have
considered options to publish it in an open and accessible format
UK legislation comes into force requiring UK-listed and UK registered extractive
companies to publish data under the EU Accounting and Transparency Directives
2016
●
UK listed and UK registered extractive companies will start to publish data under the
EU Directives in an open and accessible format
Specificity
OGP value relevance
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Publ
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Acc
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abili
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Technolo
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Innovatio
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Transpare
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Accounta
bility
Potential Impact
N
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Overall
21.1. EITI multistakeholder group
and draft
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accounting
directive
21.2. UK EITI
candidacy and
accounting
directive
transposition
21.3. Publish
EITI report and
EU directives
transposing
legislation comes
into force
21.4. Data
publication
begins under EU
directives
Editorial note: This commitment is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has transformative
potential impact, and is substantially or completely implemented and therefore qualifies as a starred
commitment.
What happened?
The commitment grew out of more than 10 years of lobbying and activity around extractive
industry (minerals, oil, and gas) transparency. The impetus has come from civil society
advocacy campaigning and government and industry action that led to the establishment in
2003 of the EITI , a multi-stakeholder initiative that creates a set of transparency standards
for participating countries and the extractive companies that operate in those countries.179
The EITI—
...is an international standard for openness around the management of revenues
from natural resources. Governments disclose how much they receive from
extractive companies operating in their country, and these companies disclose how
much they pay. Governments sign up to implement the EITI Standard and must meet
seven requirements.180
Countries are indepedently validated after joining and demonstrating a commitment to
abide by EITI rules.181 The UK commitment to join came during its chairmanship of the G8 in
179 For background on EITI, see http://bit.ly/1JFNIoN. The EU accounting directive is at http://bit.ly/1HY4Zrb and the Tranparency
Directive is at http://bit.ly/1Jet77V
180 See EITI http://bit.ly/1JFNIoN. For an excellent overview of EITI and its influence, see this research David-Barrett, Elizabeth et al.
‘The Transparency Paradox: Why Corrupt Countries Join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’ (2013). Available at SSRN:
http://bit.ly/1ApNGJj
181 See the map at http://bit.ly/1blAKxE
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May 2013, when Prime Minister Cameron and President Hollande of France held a joint
press conference commiting to be part of the EITI process.182 The EITI push is parallelled by
new transparency regulations stemming from the 2013 EU Accounting and Transparency
Directives that oblige large EU-registered extractive companies and extractive companies
listed on EU stock markets to report payments to governments wherever they operate.
Progress has been relatively rapid and consistent with the EITI commitment and the EU
directives. The required EITI multi-stakeholder group has met regularly since 2013 with
further meetings in 2014 until March 2015 on a bi-monthly basis.183 In terms of joining EITI,
the UK applied for EITI candidacy in 2014 and was accepted in October 2014 with its first
EITI report due in April 2016.184
In advance of the EU Accounting and Transparency Directives becoming UK law, the UK
government consulted on Chapter 10 of the accounting directive in the spring of 2014. In
total, 31 responses were received from large and medium businesses as well as CSOs.185 The
consultation noted some stark differences in approach:
In broad terms, responses from civil society organizations supported early
introduction in the UK, supported by a penalty regime consisting of both civil and
criminal penalties...Industry was supportive of the benefits of transparency [but]
were more cautious about the timetable and penalty regime.186
The UK government then transposed chapter 10 of the accounting directive by
implementing the Reports on Payments to Governments Regulations 2014 on 1 December
2014, ahead of the rest of the accounting directive.187 The regulations require that large or
publicly listed UK-registered oil, gas, mining, and logging companies publicly report their
payments to governments in all countries where they operate from January 2015. Reports
for UK-registered companies will be published on the Companies House website in 2016.
Any company found to have failed to report or to have filed an incomplete report could be
subject to criminal penalties. The Financial Conduct Authority has amended its rules to
implement the transparency directive in relation to reports on payments to government.
This change extends the requirements within the Reports on Payments to Governments
Regulation 2014 to extractives companies listed on the UK-regulated market.
The UK government, following consultation, has also transposed the relevant parts of the
EU Accounting and Transparency Directives that apply to reporting on extractives on EU
182 See the joint EITI commitment at http://bit.ly/1blARJt
183 The meetings and minutes of the stakeholder group can be found at http://bit.ly/1tEnRkL
184 See the government announcement at http://bit.ly/1w90K5o and background on the candidacy and EITI information at
http://bit.ly/1KzWnqF
185 See the government response to the consultation, especially pages 3-4, at http://bit.ly/1tyAEX8
186 The meetings and minutes of the stakeholder group can be found at http://bit.ly/1tEnRkL
187 See the regulations at http://bit.ly/1JFNZs2 and at http://bit.ly/1I30AoB
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stock exchanges via the Payments to Governments and Miscellaneous Provisions
Regulations 2014, which came into force on 17 December 2014. The Financial Conduct
Authority enacted the Disclosure and Transparency Rules (Reports on Payments to
Governments) Instrument 2014.
The UK government is now planning to meet its commitment to apply open data principles
to payment, and the Financial Conduct Authority is considering how the open data
commitment might be met.
Overall, the level of completion of this commitment is substantial.
Did it matter?
Taken together, the commitment is an important symbolic and practical step forward.
Because a number of the milestones and activities extend beyond 2015, assessing
implementation is difficult. The EITI report and company data are not due until 2016, and
while legal transposition of the EU Directives is complete, there are some outstanding
practical issues.
Nevertheless, stakeholders broadly welcomed the combination of joining EITI and early
implementation of Chapter 10 of the accounting directive. Publish What You Pay said the
United Kingdom was “taking an important lead towards the establishment of a global
extractive industry transparency standard and sending out a powerful symbol of its
commitment.”188
The commitments success was partly down to the fact that it was, as one stakeholder said,
“very comprehensive, straightforward and politically realistic.”189 The Department of
Business, Innovation and Skills was singled out for praise for its hard work. A number of
those involved highlighted the importance of the Prime Minister’s personal interest in
pushing forward the agenda at key moments.
There was still concern over various parts of the commitment as it stands in March 2015.
Many stakeholders thought that practicalities and details are now key: one described how
the focus needed to be on how the policy will work, particularly whether the sanctions are
automatic or at ministerial discretion, or the finer details of publication on the Companies
House website in 2016.
Rather than focusing on the government, the concern of Publish What You Pay focused on
the industry guidance on reporting drawn up by industry representatives, which that
organisation thought contained “faulty legal interpretation” and “misleading advice” that
could “undermine the excellent work to date by the UK government.”190 In response to the
188 See the response from PWYP at http://bit.ly/1vAbokO
189 The meetings and minutes of the stakeholder group can be found at http://bit.ly/1tEnRkL
190 See the draft regulations from the FCA at http://bit.ly/1zk6nTB and the PWYP concerns at http://bit.ly/1y8lv3p
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March 2015 government mid-term self-assessment, CSOs led by Publish What You Pay
highlighted the lack of progress by the Financial Conduct Authority in showing how it would
implement the government’s commitment to apply principles of open data to extractives’
data in the case of London-listed companies reporting payments to governments under the
FCA’s Transparency Directive regulations.191
The impact of the commitment is transformative in opening up extractives for the first time
in the United Kingdom and, more importantly, across the developing world where resource
transparency is a vital issue. It also is likely to have an important influence as a signal to
other countries to push the agenda forward.
Moving forward
●
●
Given the size and breadth of the commitment, CSOs were supportive of a renewed
focus on evidence of impact and implementation. The commitment is a significant
one and is made up of a complex series of different parts that require monitoring. In
April 2015, Daniel Kaufmann, head of the Natural Resource Governance Institute,
warned that the “devil is in the detail” and that companies may seek ways of evading
the new laws.192
More specifically, the IRM researcher would recommend some form of oversight or
scrutiny, possibly by a joint parliamentary committee with expertise in this area,
perhaps in time for the first EITI report. There is need for any review to also
examine the complex legal issues involved.
191 See the CSO views at http://bit.ly/1GLQsxi
192 See the interview at http://bit.ly/1DHsDCf
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V. Process: Self-Assessment
The UK government, led by the Cabinet Office, has worked hard to publish regular selfassessments as well as a mid-term assessment in March 2015.
Table 3: Self-Assessment Checklist
Was the annual progress report published?
Yes
Was it done according to schedule? (Due 30 September for most
governments, 30 March for Cohort 1.)
Yes
Is the report available in the administrative language(s)?
Yes
Is the report available in English?
Yes
Did the government provide a two-week public comment period on
draft self-assessment reports?
Yes
Were any public comments received?
Yes
Is the report deposited in the OGP portal?
Yes
Did the self-assessment report include review of consultation efforts
during action plan development?
Yes
Did the self-assessment report include review of consultation efforts
during action plan implementation?
Yes
Did the self-assessment report include a description of the public
comment period during the development of the self-assessment?
Yes
Did the report cover all of the commitments?
Yes
Did it assess completion of each commitment according to the timeline
and milestones in the action plan?
Yes
Did the report respond to the IRM key recommendations (2015+ only)?
Yes
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Summary of Additional Information
The government’s draft mid-term self-assessment was published on 10 March 2015 and
was open for consultation between 11 and 23 March. The final version was then placed on
the GOV.UK site on 25 March 2015. It was also supported by three individual selfassessment reports for each commitment published in April 2014, September 2014, and
January 2015.193 The quote below illustrates the UK government’s view of progress as of
March 2015:
Progress on implementation of NAP commitments to date has been good, with 68
percent of milestones completed or on track. Eighty-one percent of those who
responded to our survey agreed that implementation to date has gone well or very
well. However, none felt implementation was “excellent,” and we agree there is
more to do.
Status
Number (%) of milestones
Completed
27 (32%)
On track
30 (36%)
Behind schedule
23 (27%)
Closed
4 (5%)
Follow-Up on Previous IRM Recommendations (2015 +)
The previous recommendations from the first UK NAP included a number of actions.
Underneath each is a reflection on whether, and if so how, the second plan addressed them.
1. A need to make policy making “open by default”
Despite the emphasis on open policy making in 2012 and a reference to it in the first
IRM report, the commitment in the second plan has been a disappointment to
stakeholders and CSOs. Although there have been some successful examples
(particularly the northern cities consultation), a number of the chosen cases were
limited or failed to take place. Other commitments, such as Sciencewise, may offer
some possibilities for thinking about how to use new tools to engage the public.
2. The need for an open data strategy
The first IRM report spoke of the need for a wider open data strategy. The second
NAP was an advance on the first one in offering a series of diverse commitments
across different areas. A number of commitments, particularly the NII, took a
strategic view of the data framework across government. Some were highly
innovative, such as those based on the management of records and the NII, and took
193 See the mid-term assessment and consultation at http://bit.ly/1zvb7pV and the PDFs of each self-assessment commitment next
to each listed commitment at http://bit.ly/1uFCGYz
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steps forward in re-thinking ideas and developing new approaches to integrate and
better manage data.
The IRM researcher believes that there is still, however, a need to link up the
different commitments under a clear set of strategic objectives or aims, i.e., by
examining the longer-term results of the changes to the state or the political system.
A number of the commitments had obvious overlaps or synergies that could be
more clearly linked, but it was not obvious what the overall aim or direction of
travel of the plan as a whole was. Arguably, the last attempt to link and discuss the
wider objectives was the 2012 White Paper, “Open Data: Unleashing the Potential,”
which offered an overview of the government’s transparency agenda and set out a
series of goals. There continues to be a need for a detailed review that looks at how
all the new commitments link and work across government and which notions of
government, transparency, and participation underpin them.194
3. The overloading of objectives with open data aims
Unlike the first NAP, the second action plan offered a series of commitments that
were not simply focused on open data and publication of datasets. Some had clear
publication aspects but within broader aims, e.g., on beneficial ownership, aid, or
extractives. A number of commitments were also strategic or unrelated to data. Here
the second NAP is a very clear forward step with far more concrete and ambitious
aims. Some teams also took steps to rethink ideas and approaches.
4. A number of commitments considered to be clearly under way previously,
while others considered to be high profile but lacked detail
Commitments need to be balanced between something achievable without being
simply an OGP label stuck onto a pre-existing initiative. One CSO spoke of how the
best commitments were ones that were “concrete and politically achievable.”
Some of the commitments were based on pre-existing areas, but the OGP was used
as a lever to push them forward, as was the case with the commitments on local
government and beneficial ownership. Here, the OGP gave momentum and focus to
ongoing work. By contrast, a number of the commitments were rather vague in
outcome or detail and had no clear end point. This may have been suitable for some
of the difficult areas where flexibility was required, such as with police records, but
elsewhere this vagueness meant that it was not clear what the new or different
element was. Some commitments may have been overly ambitious, such as, for
example, the NHS reforms that were undertaken at a time of organizational change
and involved complex processes of international cooperation.
One important point that emerged from the second NAP was that the exact origin of
a number of commitments was unclear. Some seem to have been simply handed
194 See the 2012 Open Data White Paper at http://bit.ly/1zvbfFO
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down from the top of government to departments without consultation or
discussion with different departments or groups, rather than being developed with
them.
5. A lack of engagement by CSOs in the process and development
The first IRM report found that there was a lack of engagement by CSOs in the
process and development of the action plan. In the second NAP, this is clearly much
improved. As described above, CSOs spoke of the great improvement in involvement
and praised the process of development. The UK government’s mid-term selfassessment found that, overall, engagement was done either ‘very well’ or ‘well’ in
designing and implementing the plan.195 The Cabinet Office’s hard work in
facilitating this engagement was frequently mentioned.
CSOs offered three main reflections on engagement. First, exact levels of varied
across departments and bodies. Second, it also varied over time, with a noticeable
drop off in some cases as commitments got under way. Third, the personal relations
between officials and CSOs were vital in maintaining cooperation; and the loss of
personnel, owing to civil service movement, meant important time was lost in
rebuilding new relations.
195 See the mid-term assessment and consultation at http://bit.ly/1zvb7pV
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VI. Country Context
Country context
There were a number of major policies and changes that were not mentioned within the UK
NAP. Some were not included while others were the result of rulings or legal changes that
were not foreseen in 2013 when the NAP was being developed. Below are some of the
legislative changes, policies, or events that were omitted from the NAP or developed
alongside it.
Lobbying Act
Lobbying was discussed during the course of the development but was missing from the
NAP and only mentioned in passing as part of the anti-corruption strategy. However,
outside of the NAP, a number of stakeholders mentioned the Lobbying Act 2014 (or to give
its full title, the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union
Administration Act 2014) as an important but divisive piece of transparency legislation.
The legislation proved controversial during its passage and faced opposition in both Houses
of Parliament and from a wide variety of CSOs. Section 1 of the legislation deals with a new
register of lobbyists overseen by a registrar. Controversially, only certain types of direct
lobbyists are registered, and it appears registration so far has been slow. Section 2 of the act
deals with non-party campaigning and places restrictions on spending and involvement
during election campaigns. This means that electoral laws will cover certain CSOs, leading to
fears that the legislation will restrict and deter CSO advocacy. The electoral commission that
oversees UK elections has now issued guidance.
It remains to be seen how both section 1 (the lobby register) and section 2 (on funding) will
affect the different groups. However, the act continues to be a source of contention between
parties, and the Labour Party committed to repealing it. Analysis by Transparency
International in April 2015 highlighted how lobbying was the least open, scoring lowest out
of the different open data areas measured.196
Freedom of Information Act and Access to Information
As expressed in the previous IRM report, stakeholders expressed concern about the
possibility of amending the UK Freedom of Information Act. In early 2013, a government
minister spoke of the need to clamp down on industrial users of the act, referring to
repetitive and expensive FOI requests that posed a burden on public authorities. In May
2014, there were suggestions that there would be two consultations on FOI. One related to
possible extensions of the FOI act to cover new bodies. A second suggestion followed on
from the government response to the 2012 Justice Committee report, which expressed
concerns about certain heavy users of the act and suggested extending the veto power of
ministers, who that can override legal orders to disclose under FOI under section 53 of the
196 See the legislation at http://bit.ly/1Ky6jRl and Parliament briefing at http://bit.ly/1JErC68 and promise to repeal at
http://bit.ly/1JVlymp. See the Transparency International Report at http://bit.ly/1CIfEo6
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Act. In a further significant legal ruling on FOI, in March 2015 the UK Supreme Court
overrode a UK government veto that had prevented the disclosure of letters written by
Prince Charles to government ministers. Since 2011, following a change of the law by the
Labour government in 2010, the monarch and heir are excluded from FOI, but the appeal on
the letters predated the change. The letters, potentially constitutionally sensitive, were
released in May 2015; and the UK government has responded by raising the possibility of
amending the section 53 veto that the government can use to override appeals.
Alongside this, a number of changes have extended the scope of access-to-information
legislation in the United Kingdom. In February 2015 a ruling by the Upper Tribunal made
water utility companies subject to UK environmental information regulations, an EU-wide
access to environmental information law. Although the exact legal significance is not yet
known, this ruling may even extend the regulations to other private utility companies such
as electricity or gas. In April 2015, owing to a change in legal designation, the United
Kingdom’s strategic rail authority, Network Rail, will also come under the scope of the
Freedom of Information Act. In broader terms, a UK Supreme Court ruling in March 2014
offered the possibility of a common law right to information outside of FOI.
Alongside the NAP commitment to open up contracting through contractual clauses, the ICO
has also been pushing for stronger means of ensuring that contracts are made transparent,
producing a report on recommended future practice in March 2015. Also in March 2015, the
IFG published a draft set of clauses and a proactive disclosure schedule that could be
included in future outsourced contracts.197
UK Parliament
In January 2015, the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy reported its findings, after
examining how the Westminster Parliament could better engage using digital tools.
Amongst the report’s five recommendations were that Hansard, the official report of the
proceedings of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, should be released as open
data by the end of 2015, that new interactive forums be created for the public, and that
online voting be rolled out in the next five years. While Parliament and the government
agenda should be kept separate, there is clear synergy here with a number of areas.198
Openness Across Subnational Bodies
While broadly outside of the second NAP, devolved UK bodies in Scotland, Wales, and
Northern Ireland have moved ahead with openness. Between 2013 and 2015, for example,
197 See the government view on so-called industrial users at http://bbc.in/1GJWqie. The consultation promise is at
http://bit.ly/1DNEVdq
http://bit.ly/1JErMuq, and the veto and monarchy story is at http://bit.ly/1xD8D7N; network rail coverage is at http://bit.ly/1I1Bbvl
and the ICO report is at http://bit.ly/1JErT9e.
See this blog on the legal decision at http://bit.ly/1zhw479. The IFG report is available at http://bit.ly/1Ew9QxC and blog here
http://bit.ly/1EUxIy6
The Supreme Court ruling is explained at http://bit.ly/1iAwSbv
198
See the Speakers’ Commission report at http://bit.ly/1JcGWDM
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the Northern Ireland Executive paid increasing attention to open data and, in March 2015,
launched its own 2015–2018 open data strategy.199 As set out below, there is a need to
cover these bodies in any future plan, especially with the new commitments to greater
powers for them. Local government also has been an arena of important experimentation
and innovation that needs to be drawn on, especially with the new emphasis on local
devolution of power in the United Kingdom from 2014 onwards.
Surveillance and Transparency
One of the largest transparency stories in this period concerned the leaking in 2013 by
Edward Snowden of a series of documents relating to UK and US government surveillance
activities across the world. The extent and significance of the surveillance remains unclear,
but there is an emerging agenda around better regulation of such information-gathering, as
seen recently with the US Freedom Act of 2015.
In 2015, the UK Intelligence and Security Committee that oversees UK intelligence services,
described the legal framework as “unnecessarily complicated” and as “lacking
transparency.” The committee recommended a new, more transparent legal framework
based on a single piece of legislation to ensure accountability of the intelligence services.200
Stakeholder priorities
Greater involvement for civil society. Amongst the CSOs consulted there was a sense that
civil society had been consulted and involved, particularly during the drawing up of the
commitments. There was agreement that the process was greatly improved since the first
NAP. Positive things were said, particularly about the work of the Cabinet Office, with
Francis Maude, the then Minister for the Cabinet Office, portrayed as a strong supporter of
openness who sought to actively involve civil society.
However, some CSOs expressed concerns relating to the variability of other departments.
Some of these departments were enthusiastic and engaged with CSOs, others much less so.
There were also problems over loss of personnel at key times in the process. Relationships
of trust between government and CSOs are often based on personal relationships and the
loss of these slowed down progress. In terms of input and involvement in the CSO network,
there was also a need, recognized by officials and CSOs, to develop a wider network of
stakeholders and interested parties.
Building on success and learning lessons
The three core commitments that the CSOs highlighted as central commitments and
achievements in the December 2014 and March 2015 survey, were the high-profile issues of
aid transparency, beneficial ownership, and extractives. All have been subject to long-term
lobbying and work. Alongside this, the cross-government anti-corruption plan was held up
as a vital step forward in coordinating action.
199 See the Northern Ireland Open Data Strategy at http://bit.ly/1I1BuXg
200 See the press release and link to report at http://bit.ly/1zvgeGq
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The one area of disappointment was in open policy making, a long-term government
commitment and a key means of engaging the public in the political process. Stakeholders
recognized that this was also a complex area that faced cultural and resource obstacles, but
they nevertheless expected more from it.
Themes or areas for future action
Amongst all the commitments, but particularly the more ambitious ones, the IRM
researcher sees a need in the future to monitor implementation, understand the
effectiveness of the changes and to obtain reliable and robust evidence on their operation
and their impact. This was especially important for the international commitments, such as
aid, EITI, or beneficial ownership where there were extensive networks of groups working
in different areas and where compliance is the key to making them work.
In terms of specific reforms, the UK Open Government Manifesto, a crowd-sourced forum
created by CSOs for developing new ideas for the next action plan, offers a number of
possible policies. As of April 2015, the four most popular proposals were—
1. Bring major contractors under the FOI Act through use of section 5 so that they
are covered in the same way as public authorities.
2. Make open government a truly national policy with the UK government,
alongside devolved governments, formulating reforms that cover all UK regions and
countries. This is especially important as the new bodies were promised increased
powers in May 2015.
3. End corrupt money in UK property through legal changes to make any overseas
company register any UK property purchases with the Land Registry.
4. Give the public a say in the future of the UK by calling a UK constitutional
convention to determine the nation’s future political arrangements.
Interviewees also recommended issues concerning surveillance and lobbying as two very
important areas not covered in the United Kingdom’s two National Action Plans.
Scope of action plan in relation to national context
The plan has covered a large number of the OGP values, including transparency,
accountability, and civic participation.
The action plan could next look into a number of areas:
●
●
Amongst the three OGP values, civic participation may be the area where more
work is needed. There is a sense that various commitments involving participation
did not go far enough or work out as supporters had hoped. There is a need for
linking the transparency and accountability issues to new tools and mechanisms for
involving the public, using particularly local government or the NHS.
Similarly for accountability, a number of the commitments, from the NII to the two
NHS reforms could focus on the mechanisms needed to encourage public
accountability. The local government openness initiatives could also benefit from
being more strongly linked with or incorporated into the growing number of tools,
old and new, that the public can use to hold local government to account—e.g.,
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consultations, local referenda, or community innovations such as community
budgeting.
● A future NAP could cover certain areas of transparency and accountability,
including—
a. Transparency in government surveillance and the intelligence services.
Following the Snowden revelations and the view of the Intelligence and
Security Committee, oversight laws should be reformed.
b. Public work carried out by private bodies and the wider issue of outsourcing.
Some of these issues are caught in the current NAP, but there may be need
for a wider discussion, given the size of the contracts across the United
Kingdom.
c. Transparency over lobbying, an area of controversy for a number of decades
in the United Kingdom, should be opened up, given its centrality to the
political system. The IRM researcher recognizes that this is a complex and
politically controversial area, connected to wider issues around political
party funding.
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VII. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Crosscutting recommendations
In order to build on the success of the second NAP, the next action plan needs to do a
number of things.
First, it needs to offer some strategic direction for the open government agenda in the
United Kingdom by looking for ways of linking together different areas and explaining the
overall direction of the policy. While commitments varied in strength and topic, the third
NAP may be an opportunity to see how they can fit together. Various clusters of
commitments could link together—e.g., over records management or links between aid and
extractives or across local government. These should be part of the policy’s clear overall
aims over the next decade. As a broader point, countries that have taken full advantage of
technological changes do so by fixing a long-term, coherent vision of where they are
heading.
Second, given the ambitious nature of a number of the commitments, there is also a need to
understand how well they are working. The creation of robust evidence will help increase
understanding of the impact of the reforms and how they are implemented, offering a
baseline for future changes. Collection of evidence can also assist policy makers in
understanding the utility of a policy and CSOs to understand how policy is working and
what needs to be done in the future. One possibility would be to draw on growing
international academic work in this area. The study of transparency and technology is
expanding across disciplines, and networks of researchers from several disciplines could be
asked to examine the implementation and effects.
Third, there is a need for greater co-ordination across government. A number of
commitments were not helped by different departments working as silos or by being
engaged to varying degrees in policies that required cross-government action. This meant
that some changes had an uneven implementation. On the other hand, the government
responded to feedback, advice and input on a number of commitments, and changed
approaches or policies as a result. There may be a possible space for one key coordination
figure or champion, as recommended by the Shakespeare Review in 2013. This could be the
intended role of the new chief data officer (it was not clear at the time of writing), or a
minister.
Fourth, there is a need to closely involve devolved and local bodies in deliberation and
strategy, some of whom are already currently pursuing their own strategies. The CSOs
thought an ideal process would be for a third plan to be built by devolved bodies working
upwards in partnership with the UK government. The UK government mid-term selfassessment recognized this.
Fifth, it is important that those working in the process are able to share their expertise,
building on the successes and learning lessons. The experience of consulting and holding
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workshops has created an invaluable knowledge base of newly acquired skills,
understanding, and experience that should be shared throughout government. This may
also mean designating a certain minister or authorized person as a focal point for open
government, as recommended above.
Sixth, there is a set of practical changes that could improve how CSOs and government work
and collaborate. The CSOs praised the government and Cabinet Office for their work but
pointed out that other departments varied in enthusiasm and engagement, with some
turning off once a commitment was decided upon and others not fully consulting or
involving stakeholders. Ways need to be found to help CSOs to engage fully within their own
resources, which are naturally more limited than that of the government. CSOs often lack
time, and there are natural cycles of interest and engagement. The government recognized
this in its mid-term self-assessment.
For CSOs and the government, there is also a need to broaden involvement to new groups
and people. Some parts of the OGP agenda, by their nature, are technical , focused or niche.
Some CSOs expressed the concern that there was an inevitable focus on the big
international commitments to the exclusion of other less-eye catching ones. CSOs are
currently innovating with, for example, a very well received crowd-sourcing platform to
generate ideas for open data policies and a series of regional workshops. The use of other
devolved bodies may also help here to reach out to new networks and groups.
Top SMART recommendations
TOP FIVE SMART RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Achieve deeper engagement between government and CSOs throughout the process
of the development and implementation of the next action plan, with frequent
meetings and keeping of personnel changes to a minimum (where possible). This
needs to be sustained throughout the implementation process.
2. Promote wider engagement with a more varied group of CSOs. Although some
proposals are by their nature technical and niche, an overall strategic vision may
allow for a greater appeal to more organizations.
3. Promote wider engagement with numerous governmental bodies across the UK,
particularly the devolved assemblies and local government who should be coauthors of the next report.
4. Focus on key gaps within the second NAP, particularly on how innovations can link
to public participation and accountability.
5. Focus on some vital emerging issues, particularly government surveillance and
lobbying.
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VIII. Methodology and Sources
As a complement to the government self-assessment, an independent IRM assessment
report is written by well-respected governance researchers, preferably from each OGP
participating country.
These experts use a common OGP independent report questionnaire and guideline,201 based
on a combination of interviews with local OGP stakeholders as well as desk-based analysis.
This report is shared with a small international expert panel (appointed by the OGP
Steering Committee) for peer review to ensure that the highest standards of research and
due diligence have been applied.
Analysis of progress on OGP action plans is a combination of interviews, desk research, and
feedback from nongovernmental stakeholder meetings. The IRM report builds on the
findings of the government’s own self-assessment report and any other assessments of
progress put out by civil society, the private sector, or international organisations.
Each local researcher carries out stakeholder meetings to ensure an accurate portrayal of
events. Given budgetary and calendar constraints, the IRM researcher cannot consult all
interested or affected parties. Consequently, the IRM researcher strives for methodological
transparency and therefore, where possible, makes public the process of stakeholder
engagement in research (detailed later in this section). In those national contexts where
anonymity of informants—governmental or nongovernmental—is required, the IRM
researcher reserves the ability to protect the anonymity of informants. Additionally,
because of the necessary limitations of the method, the IRM researcher strongly encourages
commentary on public drafts of each national document.
Interviews and focus groups
Each national researcher will carry out at least one public information-gathering event. Care
should be taken in inviting stakeholders outside of the “usual suspects” list of invitees
already participating in existing processes. Supplementary means may be needed to gather
the inputs of stakeholders in a more meaningful way (e.g., online surveys, written
responses, follow-up interviews). Additionally, researchers perform specific interviews
with responsible agencies when the commitments require more information than provided
in the self-assessment or than is accessible online.
201 Full research guidance can be found in the IRM Procedures Manual, available at
http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/about-irm
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The UK research involved interviews with representatives from across government as well
as with CSO representatives and stakeholders. There were a total of 20 government
interviews and 10 interviews with different CSOs between January and March 2015. On 4
March 2015, a stakeholder meeting was scheduled to discuss the government’s mid-term
self-assessment but was cancelled owing to non-attendance.
A number of other means were used to seek views, including the following:
●
●
●
●
Emails sent via the UK OGP forum detailing the event and also asking for email
thoughts (1 detailed response);
A brief eight-question online survey launched in March 2015 and sent out via the
OGP forum, Twitter, and via the international FOI advocacy network FOIAnet (4
responses);
Use of a data from a government-led online consultation (the government survey
obtained the views of 13 stakeholders); and
A wide variety of desk-based work, particularly on the self-assessments.
The IRM researcher recognizes that the point in the OGP cycle when the research was
undertaken (January-March 2015) involved numerous questionnaires and consultations.
CSOs with limited resources may have felt somewhat overloaded and also may have been
focused on work around the next action plan and general election. The UK government midterm self-assessment ran a consultation at a similar time, between 11 and 23 March, and
received only two responses. In future cycles, more attention should be paid to timing to
minimize overlap and not overburden respondents.
C. Survey-based data
The IRM researcher carried out a survey between 10 and 30 March 2015. It was launched
through the UK OGP forum at three separate intervals and also via the international FOI
listserv FOIAnet and was then tweeted and retweeted. The survey can be seen at
https://bbk.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/ogp-cso-survey. The survey received four responses and
also elicited a number of emails and conversations with CSOs.
About the Independent Reporting Mechanism
The IRM is a key means by which government, civil society, and the private sector can track
government development and implementation of OGP action plans on a bi-annual basis. The
design of research and quality control of such reports is carried out by the International
Experts’ Panel, comprising experts in transparency, participation, accountability, and social
science research methods.
The current membership of the International Experts’ Panel is—
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Anuradha Joshi
Debbie Budlender
Ernesto Velasco-Sánchez
Gerardo Munck
Hazel Feigenblatt
Hille Hinsberg
Jonathan Fox
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● Liliane Corrêa de Oliveira Klaus
● Rosemary McGee
● Yamini Aiyar
A small staff based in Washington, DC, shepherds reports through the IRM process in close
coordination with the researcher. Questions and comments about this report can be
directed to the staff at irm@opengovpartnership.org
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IX. Eligibility Requirements
In September 2012, OGP decided to begin strongly encouraging participating
governments to adopt ambitious commitments in relation to their performance with
respect to the OGP eligibility criteria.
The OGP Support Unit collates eligibility criteria on an annual basis. These scores are
presented below.202 When appropriate, the IRM reports will discuss the context
surrounding progress or regress on specific criteria in the Country Context section.
Criteria
Budget
Transparency
Measure
Publish
Executive’s
Budget
Proposal
Source
Open Budget
Index203
Publish Audit
Report
Access to
Information
Asset
Disclosure205
Citizen
Engagement
Existence of
Law
Right2info.org
Databases204
Existence of
Law
World Bank’s
Public Officials
Financial
Disclosure
Database206
Declarations
Made Public
Economist
Intelligence
Unit Civil
Economist
Intelligence
2012 Score
4
2014 Score
Trend?
4
(Both
published)
(Both
documents
published)
4
4
(Law)
(Law)
4
4
(Law and
Public
Access)
(Law and
Public
Access)
4
4
(9.41)
(9.41)
No Change
No Change
No Change
No Change
202 For more information, see http://www.opengovpartnership.org/how-it-works/eligibility-criteria
203 For more information, see Table 1 at http://internationalbudget.org/what-we-do/open-budget-survey/ as well as
http://www.obstracker.org/
204 The two databases used are Constitutional Provisions at http://www.right2info.org/constitutional-protections and Laws and
draft laws at http://www.right2info.org/access-to-information-laws
205 In the 2014 release of the OGP Eligibility Criteria, the two measures for asset disclosure were changed. The existence of a law
and public access to the disclosed information replaced the old measures of disclosure by politicians and disclosure of high-level
officials. With this change, the new measure of asset disclosure is more objective and globally applicable. For additional information,
see the guidance note on 2014 OGP Eligibility Requirements at http://bit.ly/1EjLJ4Y
206 This database is also supplemented by a published survey that the World Bank carries out bi-annually. For more information, see
http://publicofficialsfinancialdisclosure.worldbank.org
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Liberties Subscore
Unit
TOTAL
16 out of 16
16 out of 16
No Change
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